Within Adobe Walls

1890 Twenty four new prisoners arrived in the first quarter of 1890 bringing the total number to 144 by April 1st. The iron cage in the new Dark Cell had been installed and the completed disciplinary accommodations had been tested to the satisfaction of the officers and the chagrin of four convicts in January and four more in February. The Solitary confinement cell was the most extreme punishment that was inflicted at the prison. It was a cell designated specifically for that purpose and was moved and improved as the construction of the prison progressed. The solitary cell had always been designed with no windows or doors that would allow in any light or fresh air and it was closed off to the general population by double doors to prevent any outside contact. As always happens with innovative men in close confinement, there were instances of the solitary inmate receiving notes or even contraband, in even the most carefully constructed cell. In 1890, the most secure and extreme solitary, confinement cell was excavated out of the south bank. A 20 X 20 room, entered by a long hallway with doors at both ends, the new dark cell held a 10X10 iron cage with a five foot ceiling. The recalcitrant inmate was stripped to his underwear and chained inside this cage with the only furniture being a bucket of water and another bucket for a latrine. He dined on bread and water for the duration of his stay. It usually didn’t take many days in the total dark and silence before a man was willing to behave. There were exceptions to this, of course with some of the more stubborn prisoners lasting 30 or 60 days. John Clay #830 was the record holder for obstinacy when he held out for 104 days from November 5, 1893 till February 18, 1894. Prisoner transport On November 1, 1889 Sheriff Glen Reynolds and Deputy W.A. (Hunkydory) Holmes left Globe with nine prisoners destined for the Yuma Territorial Prison. Eight were Apaches who were shackled inside a large coach drawn by a four-up team and driven by Eugene Middleton. El Cahn, Say-es, Pash-ten-tah, Hale, Has-ten-tu-du-jay, Bi-the-ja-ba-tish-to-se-an, Hos-cal-te and the Apache Kid. They were all convicted of murder and attempted murder and had been shuffled between the prisons in Fort Leavenworth, Alcatraz and the Arizona Territory. The ninth was a Mexican, Jesus Avott, convicted of embezzlement, who rode on the front seat with Holmes and the driver. The Sheriff followed on horseback. The coach stopped at Riverside for the night and left early on the morning of November 2nd . They were about four miles into their journey when they reached a long grade where the road became deep in sand. To lighten the load on the horses, most of the passengers were unloaded and forced to walk, leaving only the Apache Kid and Hos-cal-te shackled, inside the coach. Middleton started the team toward the top of the hill where he would wait for the men to catch up. Sheriff Reynolds and the prisoner Avott led the procession, the six Indians, handcuffed in pairs, followed them and Deputy Holmes followed up with his rifle. The leg manacles of the indians had been removed to allow them to negotiate the deep sand and as they continued the ascent they stealthily reduced the distance between themselves and their guards. When they were within reach Pash-ten-tah and Hale turned on Holmes and seized his Winchester and at the same time El-cahn and Say-es pounced on Reynolds. Avott, seeing the insurrection, ran up to the coach and yelled “Let me in. The Indians will kill me”. The two Indians in the coach made a wild leap to escape and join the others but Middleton pulled his pistol and was able to force the Apache Kid back into his seat. Hos-cal-te, however, made his escape. As Middleton leaned out and looked back at the fray going on behind him, he received a bullet through his right cheek that passed clear through his neck, miraculously missing critical organs or bone. Stunned he toppled from his seat and lay motionless on the ground. The Apache Kid jumped out of the coach again and joined his confederates while the Mexican, Avott, whipped up the stage team and rode off toward Florence and the relative safety of incarceration. Sheriff Reynolds had put up a desperate fight as he had buckshot wounds to his face and head and a rifle or pistol shot wound through his shoulder that passed down into his chest. His skull had been crushed and there was a deep gash across his chin. Deputy Holmes had been shot only once, the ball striking him on the left side below the armpit, passing through his heart, exiting out the right side and shattering his right arm. The Indians stripped the valuables from all the men including Eugene Middleton who, although terribly wounded was only feigning death. After the insurgents had left, Middleton, faint and grievously wounded, walked the four miles back to Riverside where he reported the disaster. Avott, reasoning that the Indians would not be far behind him, decided to abandon the cumbersome stage and mounting one of the horses started for Florence to inform the authorities. The draft animal, not being accustomed to a rider, bucked him off three times and Avott finally tied him to a tree and continued his journey, barefooted, arriving at Whites ranch where he received assistance in getting to Florence. The Governor posted a $500 reward for the capture of the murderers and in addition, Gila County offered a $50 per head reward, alive or “unavoidably” dead. El Cahn was killed by an Indian of Casadoras band near San Carlos on April 8, 1890. Pash-ten-tah was killed in the Ash Creek battle on July 17, 1890. Say-es was wounded in the battle at Ash Creek, and shot in the side, leg and arm, he managed to elude capture until July 25, 1890 when he was captured, with Hos-cal-te, by Indians of Antonios Band, ½ mile east of Benton's Camp. He had in his possession, the Winchester of Deputy, Hunkydory Holmes. On October 18th, 1890, they were sent to the Yuma Territorial Prison for life and placed in cell #13. Say-es #694 and Hos-cal-te #691 both died of consumption in March and April of 1894.