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 Examining the front page of the July 7, 1882 edition of the Concord Freeman, the first, quick glance gave no hint of the real news there. It was only upon close reading of the very dense text that a fascinating tale emerged. Today, newspapers use headline size and article position to show the importance perceived about the news. Above the fold, below the fold....left-most column versus right -- the former in both cases indicating the greater weight given the story. But this is a more modern contrivance, or at least one which had not yet been adapted at the Freeman in 1882. Reports of trimmed and untrimmed hats for sale at Mrs. Devlins's being marked down...a strawberry festival at Warnerville Hall...a picnic on the island on Warner's Pond by 16 young ladies....a meeting of the Temperance Club....how local youngsters keep fresh flowers on Emerson's grave....two barges of young people going to Stowe on a Friday evening. Columns and columns of this type of fresh, local, social news fill the majority of the front page.
  And then, with an equally-modest headline as the above gossip, there is the report of a multi-day riot at the state prison (now called Concord MCI). If this happened today, it would likely cover the front page of our local paper in all the most prominent positions. Though we may now imagine prison rioting as involving weapons, hostage taking and the like, it was in this case a different form of complete collapse in discipline and order.
...At precisely 12 o'clock Sunday night, a few of the prisoners began to shout and otherwise cause a disturbance which gradually spread through the prison until a very great proportion of the inmates were engaged in making night hideous, and the institution a veritable and not a fabulous pandemonium.... The noise went on for four hours and then stopped. The prison's warden decided to punish the prisoners by revoking their July 4th yard duty. By late morning, this information had spread throughout the population; the real rioting began. Doors and furniture were pounded and reduced to splinters. Iron bedstands banged, and enormous shouting could be heard day and night in the Junction. This continued until Wednesday at noon, when it stopped, "modified only by exhaustion."
Another rumor -- one which, over time seemed to bear up -- had to do with the industrial contractors who provided the jobs at which prisoners labored daily. Hat, pail, furniture, carriage, and other manufacturing firms provided instructors who oversaw prisoners at their work; the companies and the prison each made money on the arrangement, one which was typical of the time. But the instructors were not state employees, and in a way they set up a conflict of authority between the prisoners and prison staff. Some instructors were also known to have a regular trade with prisoners in such items as newspapers, unsupervised correspondence, toiletries, and other contraband goods, and as such were seen as a corrupting influence. The paper expressed the opinion that the loss of discipline was caused by "too many favors, too much brotherly kindness." As a result, that system soon came to an end. By October, contracts with these companies were allowed to expire. The state stepped in and became the manufacturing company. Other states -- for example, California -- had already done the same, and their very strict discipline and severe punishment for rule-breakers were hailed as a model for Concord. An added benefit reported was an increased profit margin for the state derived from the prisoner's labor.
 In mid-September, an interesting and related report was filed about an attempted prison escape by one Paul Gregory, "the lecherous delegate from Hudson, Mass." He was one of the most defiant during the riot, yet he quietly took his punishment following the "July affair." In retrospect, it was believed he was so agreeable because he was in reality hatching an escape.Through some deceit, Mr. Gregory had himself sent to the prison hospital. Once there, he managed to spend his time sawing through the bars in the water closet. His plan was to then descend to a roof, jump to the ground, and then run away into the night. However, a fellow hospitalized inmate snitched on him when he had sawed through only one bar. When searched, Mr. Gregory was found to be secreting no fewer than three fine saws in the soles of his shoes and a razor in his vest. They also found a 40' coil of rope and another saw in his mattress. Soon after this drama, the Freeman reports from the prison became more infrequent; some weeks there are none at all. Those which were present covered the current prisoner census, staff changes, and other more day-to-day events at our state prison.
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