SERIOUS PRISON RIOT.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18831, 20 March 1931, Page 9

SERIOUS PRISON RIOT.

Many Tragic Scenes. BUILDINGS SET ON FIRE. United Press Association—By Electrlo Telegraph— Copyright (Received March 19, 7.0 p.m.) NEW YORK, March 18. A message from Joliet (Illinois) states that dramatic and tragic scenes were enacted in the New State prison to-day, when eighteen hundred convicts, taking a cue from the inmates of the old prison, who rioted last Saturday, destroyed seven buildings by fire, and were checked only by the rifles of the National Guard. Four deaths among the convicts, and the wounding of several guards resulted from both uprisings. Protesting against the Parole Board, which is inflicting heavy sentences, the prisoners beat the guards in the furniture factory, and drove off the chaplain,. who pleaded with them to return to their cells. A warden, unarmed, rushed into the yard and urged the men to go back, but was treated with jeers. The rioters went from plan to plant setting fires everywhere. From the machine shop they collected missiles, which they used against the guards and State soldiery, which subdued the rioters. "What we want is a new Parole Board,” the prisoners shouted, even as they retreated upon the first volley.