MUTINY OF CONVICTS

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1929, Page 10

MUTINY OF CONVICTS

PRISON RIOTERS CHEERED. FIGHT AMIDST THE FLAMES. America was thrown into a state of fevered excitement by an orgy of prison mutinies. . Many, were killed and injured , m desperate outbreaks beyond the high walls and barred windows of the great. State gaols,and troops with machine-guns and bombs were held in readiness to quell the disturbances. What has become a daily official announcement in regard to the prison, mutinies was issued when it was stated that the prisoners who rioted at Leavenworth Penitentiary have all been subdued, and quiet has been restored. One prisoner was killed and three were injured in the course of the fighting. The trouble at Leavenworth was the fourth big outbreak in a few days. Seventeen hundred inmates of the Auburn Penitentiary revolted, and this outbreak followed close on a serious revolt in a New York State prison at Dannemora. . There was five hours’ rioting, in which rifles and machine-guns were used. Two prisoners were killed and at least twenty wounded. The outbreak in the huge Auburn Prison, New Yosk State, was one of the most terrible in the history of prison' mutinies. A desperate attempt to escape was made by 1700 convicts, and this, was followed by a disastrous fire which swept away a large part of the building. During the revolt two convicts w r ere killed, 30 injured, and two escaped. For nearly five hours the prison was a bedlam filled with the shrieking of a mutinous mob. After the prisoners had raided the arcenal, cut the. telephone wires, attacked the guards, and set the buildings on fire, it happened that the.) flames which they themselves had started forced them to surrender. In the meantime troops and State constabulary had been rushed to 4 he scene, and arrived in time to turn the tide of battle in favour of the prison staff, which consisted at the hgur of the outbreak of eighty-eight armed guards, reinforced -by fifty-five civilian employees of the gaol. Several accounts regarding the start of the trouble are being investigated by a board of inquiry. It is known that practically all the 1700. prisoners were assembled in the yard for exercise when several convicts obtained the keys to the arsenal. The raiders seized 50 riot guns, some “tear” bombs, a large quantity of ammunition, and also two machine-guns, but the latter without ammunition.

Then, rushing into the yard, they distributed the weapons to the other prisoners, many of whom were apparently aware of the impending outbreak. Firing broke out at • once. Equipped with guns and ammunition, the men in the prison yard were soon in control of the situation within the yard, and in order to scale the walls “human pyramids” were formed. Within an hour the Warden, Mr. Jennings, who is a Brigadier of the National Guard, had summoned three companies to the prison and himself took command of the wavering prison warders. Greatly outnumbered, they drove the armed convicts to seek cover behind the buildings, lumber piles, and other points of refuge. In the meantime other convicts had set fire to half a dozen buildings. Firemen from Auburn and the neighbouring towns arrived promptly, but their efforts were greatly hampered by the convicts, w'ho severed the hoses with axes.

It was not for some hours, when Statetroopers and companies of the National Guard had arrived, that the surrender took place. The convicts were given the choice of marching out with their hands up or being burned, In view of the fierceness of the outbreak and the tremendous amount of firing, the number of dead and wounded is regarded as small. News of the rebellion trickled into the State prison for women, which is separated from that for men onij' by a high wall. Notes often tossed o\'er this wall dared the men to prove their -boasted bravery and generally aroused discontent. The women, as they saw the flames and heard the sound of the firing, became hysterical, some yelling and others fainting, while hot. a few shouted words of endearment and encouragement.