Salt Lake Telegram | 1936-01-31 | Page 1 | 20 Men Die in Flaming Prison Truck

to 0 Men Die in Flaming Prison Truck Felons I Trapped in Cage In j Gasoline Fire ro 0 More Expected d to Die Two Guards Severely Burned in Attempts to Rescue Shrieking Victims By Associated Press SCOTTSBORO Ala Jan 31 31 Twenty Twenty negro negro convicts ned ed to death today in the cage of a prison transfer truck Struck ter explosion of a gallon 30 drum of gasoline t Two other convicts were seriously injured and Guards and Wasson were seared on the hands and face attempting to rescue the victims Reports as to the cause o of the fire varied said sliding of the truck the Icy ley highway apparently hed shed gasoline to the floor loor where wL by heat of the burn- burn f coals in a fire bucket placed shield the convicts con from near 0 temperatures U t Montgomery Ala however te Highway Engineer Ister said gro had struck a match near gasoline drum IB e first thing we knew of any- any rig ng wrong Guard Middlebrook Id d. d we heard the negroes shriek- shriek tar for help As soon as I could stop the truck hed shed to the r rear ar and nd Wasson iI I unlocked the door and at- at 1 to pull them out ro o 0 near the door we could save both are badly burned The rest r fold id not be reached as as' as the gasoI gaso- gaso jie I roared like an inferno he Scottsboro fire department the call b but t by the time remen em n reached the scene the bodies 20 trapped convicts had been arned beyond recognition An An ambulance and physicians rom ant ni- ni hero rushed to the scene but re re was little that could be done tIbe two tv negroes the guards gg d from the like cauldron-like th ith trap were pronounced by phy- phy clans blans in such condition that C could survive Traffic on tho the highway piled plied up or r a b. mile or more on either side Beores of curious spectators gath- gath jred red ed about the blackened frame of be e e death trap he convicts described by Mid- Mid as bad wore were being transferred trans trans- erred from camp C at Scottsboro I ea state road project on on the Lee f The prison trucks used in Ala- Ala Continued on Paco Pajo Two Column 20 CONVICTS CONVICTS' CON ViC BURN TO W DEAT Continued from Pap patt On OM bama bania Texas and several severs southern a states tes ar are cages on ft equipped with benches for th Usually there thero U Is pr PI for manacling of of- the convict The ne accident occurred ne nes- nes u city where Powell and l other negroes accused of att atti c two 1931 white have w Tn on a freight in been under p r. r I tion which has bas left them lo 10 the shadow of ot the electric c Powell is recovering at a B Bl ham hospital from a bullet in the head suffered In an at at I to escape from his guards in i tor car last week L