The Yuma
Territorial Prison in Arizona was often described as either a “hell hole” or a
“country club.” Many of the changes that led to this prison becoming more
tolerable to prisoners is due to the effort of the wife of Prison
Superintendent Frank Ingalls, Madora Spauling Ingalls.
Yuma
Territorial Prison was considered a hell hole by prisoners due to:
- "Insufferable heat (Yuma has two seasons: mildly warm and hotter than uno-where)
- Surrounded by rivers, quick sand and desert in all directions
- An inhuman "Snake Den" (dark cell) and Ball and Chain as standard punishment
- Tuberculosis was the #1 Killer
- "Impossible to endure, more impossible to escape."
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| River and desert outside Yuma Territorial Prison |
However,
after efforts to improve the prison, many by the above-mentioned couple, many
non-inmate residents of Yuma resented the convicts enjoying amenities they
didn’t have:
- Electricity
- Forced Ventilation
- Sanitation, including two bathtubs and three showers
- A library with 2,000 books, the most in the Territory at the time
- Enlightened, progressive administration
- Prison Band
Considered
one of the two best superintendents in the prison’s history, Frank Salter (F.
S.) Ingalls was initially a surveyor by trade. He served as prison
superintendent from June 1883-July 1886 and October 1889-September 1891.
The Yuma
Prison Library was created in 1883 during the administration of superintendent
F.S. Ingalls, who also opened blacksmith, carpentry, cobbler, and tailor shops
to teach inmates job skills. It was under his administration that an electric
dynamo was installed at the prison, one of the first generators in the West.. Electricity replaced coal oil and candles
for lighting.
The
following is from the Superintendent's Report, November 1, 1883.
“I
recommend that the Legislature make a fair appropriation for a Prison Library,
also to provide for a Mechanics Library of several volumes, for the special use
of convict mechanics and those learning trades.
“Every
visitor to this institution pays $0.25 for the privilege of inspecting the
prison. This money is set aside, and will be used towards assisting in
establishing a Prison Library. The amount so far realized from this source is $78.25.”
The
prison library was the brainchild of his wife, Madora Ingalls who was concerned
about the education of prisoners. She helped raise funds to buy the library’s
furniture and 2,000 books.
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| Madora Ingalls display at Yuma Territorial Prison Museum |
Some
consider it the first library in the Arizona Territory. As the prison
superintendent’s wife, she also helped raised money for a prison band, nursed
some of the sickest prisoners, and decorated cells, the dining room and
hospital with flowers annually on "Floral Mission Day." She sometimes
brought prisoners food from her own kitchen, wrote letters for those who were
illiterate, and worked for prison reform to help the inmates increase their
chances of leaving prison to return to a better and more meaningful life.
There is
a story about her that some consider true but, others claim is legend. It is said
to have taken place at a time in 1891 when Madora was not at the prison. There
were no reports in the Yuma and other newspapers of the time. The first known
documentation of the story occurred in 1962. It might be the stuff of fiction,
but it does make for a good story.
Supposedly,
there was a prison escape attempt in the prison yard in July where a crew of
inmates worked under the direction of two guards. (There were many prison
escapes over the history of the prison, with a total of 26 inmates leaving and
not being found and returned.) One guard was stabbed with a steel spike, his
gun seized and the other guard in the yard shot. As the prisoners realized what
was happening, they joined in the riot to break out.
Now
armed with the rifles and pistols of both guards, the prisoners stormed the
gates to break free. Realizing an uprising was in progress, the guard in the
tower fired on the prisoners. One of the prisoners shot and killed the tower
guard. As the steam whistle blew signaling the escape attempt, other guards worked
to reach the top of the tower and the Lowell Battery Gun, which was similar to the Gatlin Gun, but they were held back by inmate fire.
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| Gatlin Gun on display at Yuma Territorial Prison Musuem |
Supposedly,
no one knows how it happened, but Madora Ingalls, who came with her husband to the prison while in her late twenties and
the mother of three children, climbed into the guard tower. She fired the Lowell,
spraying the ground in front of the prison yard gates, keeping prisoners pinned
inside until the remaining prison guards were able to organize and quell the
riot.
Whether
or not the last story is true, Madora Ingalls left a mark felt by the inmates
of the Yuma Territorial Prison. She stands as one of the leaders in early
prison reform in the United States.
Frank Ingalls
died in Yuma, Arizona on January 19, 1927 at the age of 76. Madora Ingalls died
on November 30, 1938 at the age of 83. They are both buried in the Yuma Pioneer
Cemetery.
Across
the Colorado River and north on the eastern side of California readers will
find the Mono Basin, home to the setting for my Eastern Sierra Brides 1884
series. Book 4 in the series, Haunted
by Love, takes place
mostly in Bridgeport, the county seat, and includes my fictionalized tale that
might explain the “Lady in White,” a ghost who has been reported sighted
several times since the late 1870’s in Room 16 of the Leavitt House, now the
Bridgeport Inn. Please CLICK HERE to read the book
description and find the purchase link for Haunted
by Love.
Sources:
Trafzer,
Cliff and Steve George, Prison Centennial
1876-1976 – A Pictorial History of The Arizona Territorial Prison at Yuma;
Rio Colorado Press: 1980.
Find-a-Grave
for Madora Spaulding Ingalls and Frank
Salter Ingalls
