NEGenWeb Project
Resource Center
On-Line Library

238
HELL IN NEBRASKA
 

In the meantime we carried the wounded warden upstairs and laid him on his bed. At his left side were the assistant surgeon, Doctor Welch, and Mr. Dinsmore administering to him. I was at his right side, holding his hand in mine. I asked Doctor Welch if there was any hope, and he thought there was. He injected some fluid into his left arm. As he did that the warden opened his eyes for a minute, looked at me, squeezed my hand a last farewell and passed into the other world. I could hardly realize that he was dead. It was as if some strange power held me there; and for about half an hour I sat there with his hand in mine and could not leave him. Then Mr. Robb, the steward, came along. I asked him to lock the doors, as the warden wore some valuable diamonds. We locked the doors and went down stairs. The telephone had done its work and people were arriving at the pen. First came a reporter from the "Lincoln Daily Star," the

 
HELL IN NEBRASKA
239

prison physician, Doctor Spradling, Dr. E. B. Finney, Colonel Melick, "Jack" Matthews, coroner of the county, Sheriff Hyers with three of his deputies, Chief of Detectives John Schmidt, Chief of Police Hunger with eight officers, and former Deputy Sheriff Jim Dawson. Soon Adjutant General Phelps with an orderly arrived. He ordered fifty men from Company "F" to report at the prison immediately. The street cars were not running on account of the snow so the men were sent out on a special train over the Burlington route. They were in charge of Major H. H. Antles, and Captain Phil Hall. Major John M. Birkner and Doctor Sward also came out with a squad of the hospital corps, and the prison was now under martial law with Adjutant General Phelps in charge. The chapel became the headquarters for the militia and they patrolled all the buildings. When I left Warden Delahunty's room and returned to the office, I learned what had taken place on the inside


240
HELL IN NEBRASKA
 

of the prison, and also that the perpetrators of the bloody work were Charles Taylor, alias Shorty Gray, No. 5762, John Dowd, No. 5873, and Charles Morley, No. 5569. These men had sneaked out of the broom shop and gone to the chapel. They entered through the south door, which was never locked at that time, and while one of them covered Jim Thomas the cigar clerk, with a gun, the other two went to the deputy warden's office. They did not give Mr. Wagner a chance to defend himself, but fired several shots into his breast, from which he died almost instantly. Hearing the noise, Mr. Thomas Doody, keeper of the west cell house, armed himself and ran into the chapel. The desperadoes jumped behind pillars and kept firing at him. Mr. Doody returned the fire, but soon he fell, seriously wounded. He managed to crawl out of the building, was assisted back into the cell house, and Mr. Dinsmore was sent for to administer to him. Had not the "Convict Physician,"

 
HELL IN NEBRASKA
241

the doctor without a license, as Judge Frost calls him, arrived, there is no doubt but what Doody would have lost his life. Shortly after the shooting of Doody, came the explosion and the escape of the murderers. The guards on the wails and in the shops heard the explosion. They did not know what was going on but all watched carefully. Every man seized arms of some kind and prison discipline prevailed. In the shops not a man was permitted to leave his machine. Mr. Cokeley, for many years yardmaster at the prison and in charge of the yard on the day of the outbreak, now gave orders to the convicts to cease work and march to their cells. His conduct during the excitement showed bravery and devotion to duty. He was assisted by Sheriff Hyers.

One by one the shops were emptied and all the men locked in their cells. The boys behaved nicely except one, a horse thief from Benkelman, who was noisy. He was