The Failed Nitric Acid Mutiny at Walla Walla
A covert plot by forty convicts to poison their guards with nitric acid and storm the prison gates was thwarted by a lucky discovery in the brickyard.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
At the state penitentiary in Walla Walla, a vile conspiracy was discovered among the convicts today. Forty prisoners were employed making brick outside the stockade in an enclosure surrounded by four armed guards. This afternoon, the brickyard overseer found a large bottle of nitric acid in the brick kiln, placed there by a trusty who was allowed liberty and parole as a citizen. The scheme was to poison the guards, who were stationed outside the enclosure, by tainting their drinking water with the acid. The intention was to disable the guards, seize their guns, and storm the prison to liberate the other inmates, followed by a grand break for liberty. The plot would likely have been successful but for the lucky accident of finding the bottle of nitric acid. The facts are not known in Walla Walla yet, but the news is going to be made public through the paper, and if the plan had been successful, the town and country would have been at the mercy of the convicts.
“The intention was to give the guards a drink of nitric acid instead of water, and then seize their guns and go to the prison to liberate the prisoners, and make a grand break for liberty.”
This 1888 account of a desperate prison break attempt highlights the enduring public anxiety surrounding the Washington State Penitentiary, which remains a central, albeit complex, fixture of the Walla Walla community today. The fear of being 'at the mercy of the convicts' echoes through the centuries, reflecting a perpetual tension between security, carceral control, and public safety in small-town Washington.
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