MUTINY IN A PRISON.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1638, 3 January 1913, Page 3

MUTINY IN A PRISON.

: SAVAGE RIOT AT EOCHEFORT.;' ;:The prison of Rochefort has been the sceno ...of a savage mutiny, states 'the Paris ' correspondent of the '."Telegraph," under, dato'.of.'November 20. Wneii the chief warder, Leopoljd Afchiiwrd, Centered at tho dinner hour, a cell occupied by eight convicts : he. was. set upon; and hacked 1 to .death' beforo lio could.',draw' his revolver. His wife, who came to his aid, : shared his.fate.- Fourteen razor-slashes wore found on her' dead body. An •.officer' ■of tho Seventh Colonial Infantry, passing beneath: the prison'windows, heard the sounds'of the struggle, and ran up stairs. Both ho aud one of the convicts, a sailor who bravely took his part, were severely wounded.

this time the report of, tho mutiny: had spread, and.a strong forco of polico and gendarmes surrounded - the prison. ? u , the -Sround floor: they found tho' dead body or ; tho assistant warder, with: a hatchet wound in his throat. Mounting to the first story, revolver in hand, they camo upon the bodies of the other four Victims. Archinard and' his wife were t-?i i "lit tile sailor and tho lieutenant still breathed. Of the murderers thero were no sign. They had mounted to tho third floor, and thero barricaded themselves in a dell. .

sNight had now fallen. ' The* electric light had been cut off,' presumably. by the criminals, and ; - the police ' advanced through tho sombre corridors by the light of an acetylene flare. .. Op on in the name of the law!" oried the commissary. Receiving no reply, ho gave - orders that ■ the door should be broken in. At the very moment when it fell,, the flare flickered and went out. Inero was a desperate melee in the darkness. A sergeant was wounded in the arm by a razor, and n glancing stroke _from a hatchet cut through tho coat of the commisrary, who (drew his revolver, and fired two shots at random'. ~4,T seconds later the torch was' relighted. and it. was possible ,to explore the interior of the cell. Of. the seven convicts five were, huddled in a corner - too cowed for. further resistance. One . , 011 jno floor with a bullet through' his heart. Iho random shots hid told. Si 0 PS6 m il evcntll £inlD ? from the r<x>f.. The mutiny had so far cost five livas; but it is doubtful whether two of the. three'wounded will recover. mi pcl 'fr cari "s wound'is not grave. • • i l i?' e , • a ' r , is mysterious, and it is difficult to understand ,how tho convicte wero able to obtain and conceal w 1, £ rrm l a ,° ,vea R°ns as razors' and « r /Li i , There must have been a concerted plot, in which Druhorin'et, a sailor recently condemned by court-martial, was probably the ringleader. *It was his tody which was found hanging from 'the roof.