Montana State Prison - 1959 Riot - Death of Deputy Warden Rothe

Death of Deputy Warden Rothe

By 4:00, Myles, Smart, and Alton had control over the whole facility except for the minimum security housing outside the southern wall and the upper floor of the administration building, called "Inside Administration." This portion of the facility housed offices for the warden, the deputy warden, the sociologist, and other prison infrastructure. The only woman working within the prison walls, Babe Lightfoot, held an office in Inside Administration, but by the time the rioters reached this area of the prison, she had already evacuated upon orders from an inmate.

Ted Rothe had been across the street attending a meeting with Warden Powell and some architects who were designing the new facility Powell wanted to build. Rothe returned to his desk inside the prison at a few minutes before 4:00, oblivious to the inmate takeover. To this point, there had been almost no noise, few scuffles, and no casualties. He chatted with a guard for a few minutes before sitting behind his desk, which was in view of the door where inmates came to receive their medication. Myles, Smart, and a third inmate named Toms came up to the door, where Myles asked to receive some pills for his migraines. The guard on duty, Officer Cox, turned to retrieve them as another guard opened the door to let a third guard out. As soon as the door opened, Myles rushed through, brandishing a meat cleaver he had acquired from the kitchens. Toms threatened the other guards with a knife, and they allowed themselves to be herded into a nearby lavatory. Myles burst into Deputy Warden Rothe's office and attacked Rothe with the cleaver. Rothe deflected the blow with a plywood letterbox.

The struggle continued for a few seconds. Cox grabbed a chair and raised it to hit Myles, but Lee Smart unveiled the rifle he had had wrapped in a cone of leather and fired once, hitting Rothe in the chest, killing him instantly. Myles turned on Cox and slashed with his cleaver, slicing Cox along his arm. The inmates quickly herded the guards into the lavatory, along with a civilian mail-sorter, and locked them in. Another guard, Officer Simonsen, was coming up the steps to Inside Administration, and Myles and Smart took him hostage and had him call the warden.