The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1878-07-13
Serious Ch,,rc, nirricni,r..

Serious Church Difficulty.
Schuylkill county in general and Shen-
andoah in particular is noted for the large
number of Poles who within the past five or
six years have swelled the population. It is
estimated that there are 5000 of them in
that county at the present time, one fourth
Of whom reside in Shenandoah. While it is
generally believed by the people that they
nre all Poles IL is nevertheless an error, as
they are composed of two distinct factions,
the first being Poles proper and the other
hthuanians or Lttsh. These two classes
of people, it seems, speak two distinct langu-
ages and neither can understand the other.
They are all Roman Catholics, and three
years ago succeeded in erecting a compare
tiTely handsome church. The first pastor
assigned to the charge of this disunited
people by Archbishop Wood was Rev. An
of priest among them for a period of two
years. lie spoke both languages, Polish and
Littish, with fuency.
At the expiration of two years the Arch
bishop saw fit to suspend StrupnslSi, as he
had proved himself to be sort of conjurer
or sorcercr and had performed miracles by
the score. This was contrary to sound
Catholic doctrine, and Rev. Alexander Lam
nrkovich, Of st. Patrck's Church, of Phila-
delphia, was sent among his people by the
Archbishop. lie can speak Polish only,
and the friends Of Strupinski, through his
agency, have given considerable trouble to
the new pastor and the Archbishop ever
since. They claim. they cannot understand
him, and, after many petitions sent to the
Archbishop for his removal without success,
Sunday morning they determined that he
should not enter the church to celebrate
mass.
Before seven o'clock a crowd of about five
hundred of the Littish surrounded the
church and locked the gates of the small
picket fence surrounding it with heavy pad
locks. When the sexton came to the church
the crowd drove him off and he at once in
formed the priest of what was going on,
The priest, in company with Chief Burgess
Whalen, then repaired 10 the church, and,
to put the term mildly, both were terror
ized to see such large crowd at such an
hour. The priest tried to enter the church
gate, but was roughly pushed back by those
in front of the gate and insulted. He tried,
as a good pastor should to demonstrate with
them and show them the evil effect of their
course, but was treated with yells ofderision.
lie then informed the Chief Burgess he
wanted them all placed under arrest, and
that official in a short time had the whole
police force on the spot.
Some portion of the congregation in the
meantime had filled their pockets with
stones, and as the police advanced upon them
they gave them volley of the dangerous
missiles. The police then drew their re-
volvers, and the opposing party seeing this
some of them pulled out knives but did not
use them. The police fired a volley into
the air, which had the effect of terrifying
the rioters. About fifty of the dsturbers
were women, who were quite as demonstra-
tive as the men, and one of them fought
hard with the officers. The police succeed
ed in arresting thrty-fve of the men and
ten women. The rest of the crowd then
fled. The lookup was crowded SO densely
that some of the women tainted with the
heat. One-half of the prisoners were then
removed to Ferguson's Hall and a strong
guard placed around the building.
During their confinement one Of the party
turned States evidence. His name is Chas.
Miller. He stated that meeting was held
on Saturday evening in the woods on the
outskirts Of the town at which were present
some five hundred Lithuanians from Shen-
andoah, Mount Carmel, Gilberton and the
surrounding country. A man by the name
of George Miller, alias George Muscovich,
acted as chairman, who, with Andrew Mar
ousky and Peter Cutcavich told the meet
ing they had legal advice to the effect that
they could remove the pastor, and if he
would not 60 they could make him CO.
Miller denies the story and says he is inno-
cent He is, however, under arrest.
Rev. Father Lanarkovich SAYS that Miller
is fre-brand, and that he never goes to
church except to destroy the peace and good
will of his people, and that he never con-
tributes to the support of the church and
says that he will punish them all to the full
extent of the law. lie has taken out war
rants for their commitment as meters to
riot. All those arrested are still in custody
(Monday) and the greatest excitement pre-
walls Large numbers of their friends in
bodies paraded the streets Sunday evening
and in consequence of this fact the whole
police force were on duty guarding the pris-
Oners.
LATER.-But four of the thirty-six Poles
arrested at Shenandoah, Sunday have been
retained, the rest being discharged by pay
ing small fines. The four who are retained
are the ringleaders of the riot, and will be
tried at the next session of the Criminal
Court to be held in Pottsville.