Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-04-04
Friday Nights OperatiOns-.-the Attack
the .Lnil.

CINCINNATI, u, March -. meeting was
called for last night by some of the best citi-
zens to protest against the travesty of JUS
tice in our courts in the case of William Ber-
ner, who was found guilty of mansaughter
last Monday when he had confessed to MUIR
der most foul and deliberate. Music Hall
was crowded as never before. The speeches
were temperate, but the audience was impa-
tient and illusions to the Berner Jury and
lawyers were met with vehement cries OF
Hang them!" Ropes with nooses at the
end were displayed The leaders saw how
innammable was the material they had be-
fore them and soon after . O'Clock adjourned
the meeting.
The great crowd, 10000 strong, surged in
to the street. A man shouted, ITO the Jail
To the Jail !" and about 200 men who seem
ed to be organized, followed him, as did the
crowd, shouting for the death of not only
Berner but of other murderers confined in
the jail. Arriving at the Jail the mob at
once began to stone the building. At 900
the fire bells sounded the alarm; at once the
city was aroused and thousands hurried to the
scene. In half an hour it is estimated that
10000 people were on the spot, the most of
them spectators but many of them eager for
the blood of the score or more murderers in
the jail Berner was not there, having al.
ready been recently started on his way to the
prison at Columbus.
Coming up to the jail the leaders seized a
large beam and began using it AZ a battering
ram with which to force open the iron DOORS
Within the sheriff and dozen deputies await
cd them, determined to fight. The door gave
way and the mob crowded in, but were driven
back by the deputies and n squad OF police
which had arrived. The mob placed n plank
to an upper window of the iailer's house in
such way as to effect an entrance in the
second story, and tried to get into the cell
rooms from that direction They began TO
batter down the iron door leading to tho cor
ridor on which the cells open They sue.
ceeded, and a desperate fight ensued between
the leaders Of the mob and body of police
under charge of Chief Reilly, who had come
in through secret tunnel leading from the
court house; II of the rioters were seized
and locked up in cells. The officers used on.
ly their clubs, not wishing to draw their pis.
tolls. Time and again were the mob driven
back, only to return by some new direction.
All the time the crowd outside was yelling,
swearing, cheering aud urging on those who
had effected lodging inside. 1t was q great
tiger, its appetite whetted for blood and
growing more implacable every moment.
The situation was desperate and growing
worse every second. Patrol wagons came up
to the confines of the crowd filed with po-
licemen. The crowd allowed them to be en-
circled by its arms and then closed around
them, cutting their traces and lines of the
horses and not permitting the men to leave
their wagons. Five hundred to each police
man was low estimate. The men were
poweress The numbers in the Jail increas.
ed. Several times did they gain access to
the cell rooms and rushed from one to the
other, searching for Berner. Time and again
were they driven back.
Finally, about midnight, Sheriff Hawkins
sent for a company of militia lying on their
arms near by. They were admitted through
the tunnel Their guns were loaded with
ball. The crowd found out their entrance,
and essayed to follow, firing pistols at the
soldiers. Instantly came the command Fire !"
and the tunnel, space fifty by seven feet,
was filled with the smoke and flying bullets
from their guns. One rioter was shot in tn Q
breast, fell and died in a few minutes. Sew
eral others were wounded and were caught
and pulled out of the tunnel by their friends
In the excitement of the moment two police
men who were guarding the tunnel entrance
were shot.
The soldiers then rushed into the Jail and
helped to clear the rest of the building
and to guard the doors. The lynchers seem.
ed to be all the more furious by their defeat,
and, rallying on the outside, spent fully two
hours in attempting to fire the jail. First,
barrel of coal-oil was poured into the base
ment and set on fire. but the police extin-
guished it. Another fire was lighted by
some means in the keepers office, but the
jail, being of stone and iron, was proof
against the flames. The next outrage of the
furious mob was to pelt the windows with
stones, and even to use pistols promiscuous
ly. The militia, not having the scruples nor
the discretion of the police, at this late mo-
ment, when the jail was really safe, began
returning the fire from the windows. At 3
o'clock, for time, some one was wounded
every few minutes While many of the at
lacking party had gone home frightened, the
more desperate rushed to the Veterans arm
ory and Kittredgs's gun store completely
cutting the latter place, and carrying of
arms and doing damage to the extent of over
$4,000. With daylight the crowd dispersed
from the vicinity of the jail. As soon as it
was light enough the soldiers marched out
and formed dead line" across the various
streets leading to the jail, and through the
day the authorities, in anticipation of another
attack at night, were making ready for de-
fence of the Jail.
BERNEB's JOURNEY FROM CINCINNATI TO THE
STATE PENITENTIARY.
While these outrageous scenes were going
on at the court house, the officers were hur-
AyAhB AOAhoA Oh " Tue D6ulLeuLldfY AT 20
lumbus but at Loveland the prisoner was
recognized, and in the confusion he escaped
and was not recaptured until Saturday fore
noon. His 80 hours of narrow escapes were
very exciting. He wandered along in sight
of the railroad, slept in a box car, and then
reiterated to the woods. After his capture
Deputies Moses and Devolo had difficulty in
keeping their prisoner concealed during the
day. They drove to Fosters crossing, and
changing Berner's clothing, intrusted him to
two newspaper correspondents and told the
people that they had failed in their search
The correspondents shut Berner in the ex-
press car, and when within half a mile of
the Columbus depot the train was stopped,
While another crowd was gathering at the
depot, the murderer was taken to the peni-
Tertiary, under an escort of Is policemen
and large number of prison guards.
The Rioters Work on Saturday Might
and Sunday Morning.
A mob gathered again before the Jail and
around the court house by o'clock Satur-
day evening, the principal attack being made
on the court house, whose plate. glass win
dows were soon smashed by stones. Mean
time the mob had made a great bonfire near
the jail, and had procured barrels of coal oil.
which they rolled into the basement of the
court house and set on fire. Efforts were
made TO extinguish the flames, but Capt.
Desmond of the LIST regiment was shot in the
attempt and other soldiers seriously wound.
ed, while the fire companies were restrained
from using the engines by the mob, who
threatened to cut the hose as fast as it should
be laid down. There were several buildings
adjacent to the court house on fire during
the night, and the great building, which cost
a million dollars, was slowly destroyed with
all its ine6timable records Threats were
made during the night of the destruction of
hotel owned by Col. Hunt commanding the
4th regiment, and all the guests of the hotel
left it hastily, but the hotel was not touched
Powells gun store was attacked but the mob
were driven off by the determined action of
the owner and few of his men. The be-
leagured garrison of the jail fred upon the
mob repeatedly. The 14th regiment reached
the city at midnight, and at once formed and