One
Sunday some young boys we were playing baseball near the prison when
they suddenly heard loud and continued shouting from within the
walls. The bell began to ring, and as it was mid afternoon, they knew
it was not lock up time. Two guards, off duty,also, were playing
ball. When the bell started ringing they rushed to the main gate of
the prison, as they knew that the bell was to call all men to duty.
The
guards took guns from the armory and hurried to assigned places on
the wall. The boys left the baseball game and ran to the top of the
nearby hill where we could look down into the prison yard. They saw
hundreds of prisoners milling about and shouting. They were emerging
from the mess hall. A couple of leaders were urging them to follow
them to the Jute Mill. They had completely wrecked the dining room
and kitchen and were being led to the Jute Mill to destroy that factory.
From
the hill they saw one of the guards who had been playing baseball
with us. He was on the opposite wall and had a rifle. He shouted to
the men to disperse and go to their cells, but they surged on and the
leaders kept urging them to follow. After a couple of warnings
without results the guard raised his gun and fired at the leaders. He
fired two shots and three men fell. Then the mob scattered and
quickly dispersed. They were soon safely in their cells, but three of
their leaders were dead.
These
men had rioted at the dining room tables in protest against the
kind, and the quality, of the food. They had tried to capture the
Stewart but he succeeded in escaping through a window in the kitchen.
They surely would have killed him had they captured him. They
succeeded in making a shambles of the mess hall and kitchen.
An
aftermath of this riot was when the warden came to guard, William
Duffy and said, "Mr. Duffy, I cannot send that Stewart back to
that mess hall. They would surely kill him. I want you to take over
as Stewart." This was a promotion for Duffy and it would be a
substantial increase in salary. But it would be a hazardous job. No
one knew how deep the grudge of these thousands of men might be. But
Duffy became the Chief Stewart and handled it without incident until
he retired many years later.
Author;
William J. Duffy, Jr.
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