Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-04-01
CINCINNATrS FURIOUS MOB!
TEN THOUSAND CITIZENS ATTEMPT TO
LYNCH A MURDERER!
The Jail Bombarded with Cannon!
MEN AND WOMEN KILLED /!
Especial to The State. j


CINCINNATI. March 29-S A. MA ter
ible riot occurred here last night caused by
he verdict in the Berner murder case. The
Whole city is in state of wild excitement.
The military and police have been on duty
II night, but have been powerless. Last
Monday the trial of this case was conclud-
d.
William Berner was charged with the
murder of William H. Kirk, worthy and
most esteemed citizen. The tragedy oc-
urred over a month since. Kirk, who was
! quiet and inOffensive man, and not known
o have an enemy, was missing for two days.
search was instituted and his body found in
! mill-stream near the city. His head was
rushed in, and there was every evidence
hat he had been robbed and murdered. The
flair caused the most intense excitement.
The crime was traced to Joe Palmer and
William Berner, and they were arrested
Both confessed the crime. They said they
Mr.. Kirk to his stable and killed
him by striking him on the head with a
hammer. They then robbed him of 800
Ind put his body in covered wagon, which
hey drove to Cummingsville. There they
dumped it into the mill-stream where it was
found. Threats of lynching were made at
the time, and the men were kept under
strong guard.
Soon after their arrest Berner attempted
to put the actual commission of the crime
upon Palmer. He said that Palmer did the
actual murder, while he only looked on and
got share of the money The trial attract
ed great attention, the courtroom being
crowded to suffocation. Berner had the
most adroit counsel. The jury last Monday
verdict in the case of Berner,
finding him guilty of manslaughter. The
verdict was declared privately by the Judge
who tried the case to be an outrage, and the
jury were hooted after leaving the court
room and told that they would soon be
hanged.
HIDING FROM THE MOB.
James Bohne, one of the jurors who SO
excited the Judge by their verdict in the
Berner murder case, was threatened by a
mob Thursday night and would have met
with violence had not policemen taken him
from his house by back way. He spent
the night at the Bremen-street Police sta.
ton. Upon his returning home this morn
ing crowd again gathered to hang him.
The crowd was dispersed by the police.
Soon afterward Bohne received word that a
couple of friends wanted to see him at a
neighboring saloon. Emerging from his
house, crowd who had been in concealment
jumped upon him, tore his clothes and beat
him in a serious manner. Bohne has since
been taken to the Jail for safety. Charles
Dollahan, another member of the jury, who
lives in Harrison, does not dare to return
home. He got as far as Cleaves, when a
crowd pelted him with rotten eggs. He
spent the night in a corn-feld, and the next
day went to Brookville, Ind. There he was
recognized and told that he had better leave
the place, which he did. The foreman OF
the jury, A. F. Shaw, is in hiding through
fear of mob. Louis Havemeyer, another
of the jurors, returned to the printing house
of Russell e. Morgan to-day, Intending to GO
to work, but was told that the services OF
such men were not wanted there. During
the noon hour the employees hanged him in
efigy. A crowd gathered before the house
of L. Phillips on Liberty street, supposing
that L. A. Phillips, one Of the jurors, lived
there. They tore off the blinds and threw
dead cats and rotten eggs through the win
dows before the mistake was discovered.
Last night ten thousand persons gather
ed at Music Hall in response to a call by re-
putable citizens to take action on the Ber-
ner verdict. The crowd was so great that
many hundreds could not obtain admission,
but stood outside awaiting the result of the
proceedings with feverish intent. The
speeches were made in both English and
German. The feeling of indignation was
made intensified by the discovery to-day of
corruption in the jury-box in a civil suit in
progress before Judge johnson.
ATTACKING THE JAIL.
Resolutions were adopted condemning the
verdict, and a committee on legislation was
appointed. Upon adjournment the crowd
moved to the Jail, where they attacked the
front door. At $40 +. NJ, the riot alarm
was sounded, summoning the entire police
force to the Jail. Crowds of people gathered
in that vicinity. Berner was removed after
his sentence this afternoon, and is now on
his way to Columbus.
THE POLICE FIRE ON THE MOB.
The police upon arriving in the vicinity
Of the Jail commanded the crowd to move
on, and not being obeyed fired, but as no
one was hurt it was presumed that they fired
in the air. 1t is said that was the intention of
the police, they being in sympathy with the
to condemn the Berner verdict.
A shot or two has been fired from the Jail,
but the crowd refuses to move. They are,
at 10 o'clock, still at work at the Jail door.
THE REGIMENT CALLED OUT,
11:30.-Tne First Ohio Regiment, Ma
tional Guards, has just entered the jail,
having been marched through the front en-
trance of the court house, and thence
through the tunnel into the Jail, where the
mob is thronging. The police inside the
jail arrested some of the first members of
The mob that entered, but this soon became
and the police refrained from
using their pistols.
About thirty shots with -muskets were
fired by the militia, it is supposed, for the
purpose of soaring the mob. The result
was that glancing balls struck at least four
persons, INJECTING injuries which may be
fatal ill the case of one or two rioters. A
policeman named Mum and private named
Cook are the worst hurt.
SETTING FIRE TO THE JAIL.
1915 A. M.-The Jail has been fred by
the mob, and the crowd on the streets say
they will cut the hose and prevent the fire
department from extinguishing it. The
mob seem to think wholesale holocaust the
only means of accomplishing their purpose.
The menaced murderer meanwhile had
been removed from the building by the City
Sergeant; but escaped while being conveyed
in cars to place of safety, and is still at
large, though supposed to be hiding in Clar-
mount county, which is being thoroughly
searched by hundreds Of people. If caught,
short work would be made of him.
The greatest excitement prevails in the
city, and the expectation was at one time to
the effect that the enraged people would at
tack the military armory and the gun stores
this morning. The police and militia are
powerless. A dozen persons are
killed and over fifty said to be
wounded thus far.
THE MOB AGAIN FIRED UP.
CINCINNATI, March 29-10:30P. M.-The
mob has again gathered in the neighborhood
of the jail in greater numbers than last
night, and is full of drunken men. Some
lighted ipfammable substance was thrown
in the County Treasurer's Office in the court
house, setting it on fire, and there are no
of saving the Treasurer's papers.
The entire building is very likely to be de-
stroyed. The troops at first fired blank
but when the infiammable sub
stance was thrown into the Treasurer's Of
flee they fred ball, and drove the mob back
to Vine street. Many are wounded and pos
sibly many killed. Armory Hall, on Court
street, near the courthouse, is on fire. Cap
tain Desmond, of the First regiment, is kill