Prison Guard F. M. Isaacs

F. M. Isaacs

Guard F. M. Isaacs died of injuries he received when he was shot during an escape from the Nevada State Penitentiary.

Twenty-nine inmates staged an escape from the Nevada State Penitentiary at Carson City. Guard Isaacs of the Gold Hill penitentiary was in the yard when the prisoners began to flee. Guard Isaacs began firing but was hit with a bullet that broke his right knee. A second shot struck him in the hip.

Guard Isaacs did not recover from his injuries and died three weeks later.

The September 17, 1871 prison break was the largest prison break in American History. Of the 29 who escaped, 18 were captured and returned to prison. Nine were never seen again. Two were lynched by an angry mob who seized them from a posse who captured them near Mammoth Lakes, California, six days later. A lake they were hanged near was renamed Convict Lake.

During a shootout with the three escapees, Possemen Robert Morrison and Mono Jim of the Mono County, California, Sheriff's Dept. were shot and killed. Two of those men were executed. The third was returned to prison.

Guard Isaacs had served with the Nevada State Prison for five years. He was survived by his wife and two children.