PRIEST UNLIKELY HERO IN CANON CITY PRISON RIOT

Thirteen people - both guards and inmates - died in a riot and raging fire at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City, and a Catholic priest "dressed for golf" emerged as an unlikely hero through a hail of bullets.

The mutineers set blazes and raided the arsenal on Oct. 3, 1929, but inmate trusties remained loyal to the warden. "Steadily and calmly, while the gun battle raged and during the cessation of firing, the trusties aided firemen to control the fire," The Rocky Mountain News said.

The struggle to defeat the rioters lasted almost a day - and "the battle was marked by two attempts to dynamite the cell house walls, one blast breaking all the windows, but failing to effect a breach in the masonry," the Associated Press reported.

AP said: "The hero of the dynamiting attempts was a Catholic priest. Father Patrick O’Neill, who carried the bombs to the foot of the cell house wall, under cover of machine gun fire from the prison walls."

O'Neill, 43, was a teacher with no ties to the state penitentiary.

There by happenstance, the priest made two dashes from the prison gate, each time carrying 25 pounds of dynamite. He knew nothing about explosives.

In a letter to the editor of Time Magazine, O'Neill told his story, saying: "To view my purpose as one of 'death,' rather than one of mercy to the other 160 men in Cellhouse No. 3 is rank unfairness. Women and children and men too, were scared that night. Action had to be taken; and, since I had no dependents, why I volunteered. This 'hero' stuff is also distasteful to me."

Furthermore, O'Neill wrote: "I was also dressed for golf, and was on my way to the Club, when a young lady told me her Daddy was trapped by the convicts within the Pen. 'Greater love hath no man, than a readiness to lay down his life for them.' That, and that alone was my purpose."

[Photos: Pathe Newsreel, Private Collection]