Tuberculosis, escape attempts were killers at prison

The Yuma Sun is reprinting articles from past newspapers throughout the year as part of the Yuma Sun’s 150th anniversary, honoring Yuma’s unique history. This column is one in a series written by local historian Frank Love that appeared periodically in the newspaper.

An Internet Web site contains a list of prisoner deaths at the Yuma Territorial Prison from the time the institution opened in 1876 until it closed in 1909.

It reports that during those years, 3,026 men and women were incarcerated there. A list of inmates who died there contains 111 names. Considering the state of medical knowledge during those years, the fatality rate was probably better than might have been expected.

This writer made a count of deaths caused by various diseases as diagnosed by the prison physicians of that day. Tuberculosis was the No. 1 killer. If the records are correct, at least 142 prisoners died from it.

One surprise in the list of inmate deaths was that only one was reported to have died of old age – Louis Comedo, who died on Dec. 6, 1889. He was reported to be 90.

The guards must have kept a close watch on their inmates because only two were listed as having been killed by other prisoners. The first was Simon Aldrete, No. 2000, whose death was reported due to a stabbing by another prisoner. Three years later in 1906, John Brown, No. 1543, was listed as a victim of homicide after being struck by a rock.

Records suggest that only one women ever died in Yuma Prison, Pearl Eiker. Serving a three-year sentence for killing Lewis Clark at Douglas, where she had been an occupant of the red light district, it was said that jealousy was the reason she shot Clark.

Found guilty of manslaughter, Pearl was sentenced to three years on July 1, 1907. She served less than a year, dying in prison hospital on Jan. 10, 1908, of a bowel obstruction.

After tuberculosis as a leading cause of prison deaths, attempts to escape appear to have ranked second. The most serious effort occurred on Oct. 20, 1887, when eight inmates tried to break out. The prisoners may have been planning the escape attempt for some time while waiting for the right moment.

It came that day as Superintendent Tom Gates was about to leave the area surrounded by the wall. He asked the gatekeeper to open the entrance so he could return to his office outside. As soon as it was opened, inmate Librada Puebla, who was armed with a knife, seized Gates, pinning his arms behind him.

Along with seven other prisoners, Puebla marched Gates out the entrance with the others walking close to the superintendent as possible. The escapees believed the guards wouldn’t shoot at them in fear of hitting Tom Gates. One of them, Joe Lopez, then ran into the superintendent’s office and got the revolver which Gates kept in his desk.

Guard Frank Hartlee was on the wall at the tank station and saw what was happening. He was uncertain whether to open fire on the escaping prisoners. They were all so close to the superintendent that he feared he might hit Gates if he shot at them. Gates was willing to take that chance. “Fire away, Frank,” he yelled at Hartlee.

It wasn’t what Librada Puebla, the prisoner holding knife to Gates’ back, had expected. When Hartlee opened fire and hit Puebla with his first shot, the prisoner plunged his knife into Superintendent Gates’ back.

By then another guard, Richard Rule, had opened fire on the escapees. One of his shots hit Lopez, who had the revolver taken from Gates’ office. As Lopez fell to the ground, he dropped the weapon.

A surprise followed which helped end the escape attempt. Seeing what was happening, prisoner Barney Riggs ran through the open gate to assist the wounded superintendent. Grabbing the gun Lopez dropped as he fell, Riggs took it and shot Puebla, who fell dead at his feet. It was an action which gained him an early release from prison afterward.

The sound of shooting brought other guards running to the wall, where they opened fire on the escapees. When yard captain Fred Fredley came running through the open entrance to try to help end the escape attempt, he was attacked by one of the escapees, Rivera, who was armed with an ice pick.

To prevent being stabbed, Fredley wrapped his arms around the prisoner. The pair then tumbled down the hill by the prison where Assistant Superintendent John Behan came to Fredley’s assistance, and Rivera surrendered.

By then other guards had opened fire on the escapees. When it ended, all seven gave up. Five had been struck by the gunfire from the guards. Only three surrendered without injury.

The knife wound suffered by Superintendent Gates caused him great pain afterward from which he never fully recovered. It probably contributed to his suicide several years later while he was again serving as prison superintendent.