A NIGHT OF TERROR.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 10, 27 June 1884, Page 23

A NIGHT O F TERROR.

-♦ The experience of some of the prisoners confined in the Cincinaatti gaol during the recent riots in that city, as told to an Etiguirer reporter, is exceedingly interesting. Some there are who can give no distinct account of anything that occurred during the terrible excitement. The rattling of musketry, the sound of breaking glass, and the dull thud of the battering-ram, combined with the hoarse shouts of the mob, sent a thrill of terror to the hearts of the helpless prisoner?, almost dazed with fear. It is said by the gaol officials that the only prisoner who showed no fear during the onslaught of the enraged mob was Dan. Flannagan, the notorious burglar. After the mob had gained an entrance to the gaol proper, Flannagan is said to have shouted to the mob : " Here I am ; my name's Palmer ; take me out and hang me." This caused a rush to his cell, and the huge plank üßed as a battering-ram wa3 about to be applied to his door when one of the crowd happened to strike a match and a glimpse was caught at Flannag.m's face. "He ain't Palmer ! He ain't Palmer ! " yelled the crowd, and they ceased operations in Mr quarters. As they left his cell, Flannagan laughed and jeered at them, saying : " You are a lot of cowards, and are afraid to take me out." When asked his object for passing himself off for Palmer, Flannagan said : " Well, I will tell you. You see, if they had broken open my cell I could have convinced them that I was not Palmer. 1 came very near making it anyhow, and if they had not lit the match on me so soon I would have been all right. If 1 had ever got out I would have as much pull with the mob as anyone. I will say this : I never saw such a crowd of fools in my life ; they had all the chances iD the world to hang all the niggers, and they ought to have done it. O, I tell you, if I had ever got out of that cell I would have made it warm for somebody. I guess I'll get a pretty gnod dose, and they can't blame me if I try to get out." Flannagan is one of the most desperate robbers in the country. He has escaped twice from a Southern penitentiary inside of a year. He now owes five years of his sentence in the South. Red McHugh, who is under sentence of death on the 2nd day of May, aays when he first heard the noise of the crowd on the outside he was afraid there would be trouble. "I tell you, when they reached the office and began to assault on the door leading to the gaol proper, you should have beard the prisoners. Some were praying, some were blaspheming, and others ciying and moaning in distress. Itellyou.it was something a man would never forget as long as he lived. The first crowd that came to my cell looked in and said : ' Who is there ? ' I answered, « Billy McHugh.' The one who seemed to be the leader said : 'We don't want you, Rei,' and they left. In about ten minutes another crowd came rushing up to my cell, and asked : ' Do you want to get out, Reddy ? ' and I answered, • No, I would prefer to remain where I am.' They then left, and that whs *he last I serin of them. I could hear them immediately under my cell pounding away at Ben Johnson's door, and you never heard &uch praying and begging in your life. I tell you, it wa3 a terrible experience. I could have got out by saying the word, but I am willing to take my chance of life in a lawful manner." McHugh is looking much thinner, his cheeks are sunken, and the suspense in his case is killing him. Emil Trumpeter, who killed the Italian at Liberty and Vine streets, who id awaiting his third trial for the offence, is confined in cell 53 on the eecoud tier. He was very talkative, and, between the puffs of a very dirty pipe, he said : » I was awful scared wnen I heard the mob on the outside, and when they got in 1 tell you it was enough to make any man feel shaky. lam sorry to see good men kilted and property destroyed, and I think it could have been prevented. Why, when I saw the first man enter our hall I never had such a feeling come over me, and when, in about a minute, the place was filled, I tell you I gave up all hope." Joe Palmer, the partner of Bemer in the horrible butchery of William H. Kirk, was found in cell 13 on the first tier. He was n-rvouß, and seemed afraid to come to his cell door. After beiug assured that no harm was meant to him he stepped 'up to the bars. " When the crowd came to my door first," said the prisoner, when asked for his expeiience, "they asked for Bemer. I told them I wasn't Berner, and they lef c. They came back in a few minutes, and said :♦ We want Palmer. Where is Palmer ? ' I said :' I ain't Palmur. Palmer is a nigger -md I'm a white man.' I told them my name was Watson, and that I was in for petty larceny. Tnia seemevl to satisfy them, and they left. I got back into my corner, and I tell you when I heard them running around hollering ' hang Palmer 1 ' and such things ai that, it made me feel shaky. I don't feel very good lately. Something's the matter with me, but I guess I'll come out all right." Confinement and worry are beginning to show on Palmar, aud he has lost all his former brava-io. He is just beginning to realise his tenible position and, probably, fate. Ben Johnson, one of the Avoudale murderers, occupies cell No. 2on the first tier. Tue door of his quarters looked as though it had been btruck by an engine. He was found complacently smoking a pipe. He was very uncommunicative, and it was some t'me before he vouchsafed a reply to the reporter's innumerable questions. He finally, in auswtr to a question a=i how he felt when the mob first fame to his cell, said : •' I was awfully scared, as anybody would have been. When they first came to my door I told them I wasn't Johnson ; but someone must have given me away, as they didn't slop, but started to batter down my door. I thought my time had come for certain, and I didn't know whether to pray or what to do. When they were driven from my cell I never felt so thankful in my 1 fe. Do you think I done it ? " the prisoner suddenly askid. " Did what, beu ? " " Why, what am I charged with ? you know well anough they will have to prove it, anyhow ; you can bet on that." Johuson is 6aid to have been scared so badly when the mob came in that he was perfectly helpless, and did nothing but cry and moan all the time the trouble was in progress. Allen Ingalls, the other of the Avondale murderers, was found gazing out between the bars of his cell door. His face seemed tj have undergone a change aiDce he w»b last seen by a reporter. He

miled a ghastly smile when spoken to by the reporter, whom he immediately recognised. When asked as to how he felt, he said : " I'm feeling pretty bad, boss, I can tell yon. I prayed for the first time in ray life the other night. I don't know whether I did it right or not, but I have often heard my wife pray, and I did the bjst I could. My heart was in it, and I meant every word £ said. If I thought I would b? forgiven for ray sins £ would feel much happier. When I first heard the crowd howling outside something told me that there would be trouble, and I tried to think of a prayer. I a»ked tha officers to s;e that my body was given over to my wife. I never expected to see daylight." James Biyd, who shot and killed his sixteen-yeur-old son in Cumminsville several months ago, occupied cell No. 73 on the third tier. He was found chatting with some of the soldiers who were gathered about his door. He was rjlating his experience when the reporter came up. He said : " The only thing that I was afraid of was that someone in the crowd would ask for me and that 1 would be the one t) catch it. I lay pretty low, however, and when they came to my cell and made me get up and come to the door, I gave up all hope. They o-jly looked at me, however, and then went away. That was a terrible verdict, anyhow," continued the prisoner, "and I knew it would'caase trouble. Why, I'll tell you, if the prisoners in this very gaol had tried Bemer they would have bung him. I say any man who would commit a premeditated murder ought to be hung " Boyd then switched off on to his own case, and advanced facts that he said justified him in taking the life of his eon. C. W. Richardson, the man who killed his brother-in-law at the foot of Eighth street flome time ago, was found in cell 49. He said : " I was badly scared, and I can hardly give an account of auything that occurred. I can. say this, however, I never want to go through such experience again." The Oliver brothers, who are charged with stabbing a brother boatman to death some time since, both acknowledged that they were badly scared, and thought their time had come. Bill Oliver said : "If they had got us out we would have gone down together, you can bet on that."

"Babe " Walker, the notorious. bnrglar, occupies cell No. 71 on the second tier. He said :'♦ It's bad— bad, I tell you. lam very sorry this ever happened. I think Earner should have been hung, as he deserved it if ever a man did. This will be apt to do all the prisoners harm, and we will all get pretty heavy doses I guess." Others of the prisoners were seen, and all agree that the occurrences of Friday and Saturday night were horrible, and never to be forgotten. They all express the opinion that Bemer should have been hanged, and blame the jurj who brought in the nonsensical verdict of manslaughter.