Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-20
WEIRD, CHASTITY.
An Awful Scene Enacted by Penn
sylvania White Caps.
They Were Surprised in Their Hideous
Carnival, and Their Operations Are
Reported by Witnesses.
Whipped Into Mass of Bruised and Bleeding
Flesh-The Victim was Harmless
Idiot-An Aroused Community.

NEW York, Jan. "a Shamokin,
Penn. special says the White Caps in the
eastern and western portions of Nor
cumberland county worked with possibly
fatal results Thursday night at which
time yigilantes committee had been
formed all over the county instituting
search for heartless wretches. 1t is as
hard task to find who the members of
the committees are as to establish the
identity of the White Caps
Patrick Doolan and two Hungarian la
borers left the mines of Carbin colliery at
o 'clock yesterday morning 20 go home
They live in Springfield, a mile from this
city and two miles from the mines As
they were 200 yards from their homes
walking on the turnpike, Doolan sud
denly stopped, calling the attention of
his companions to a number of
TRANGE-LoOKING OBJECTS
100 yards TO the left on both sides of the
swift and deep running stream. He told
the men to accompany him to find out
what it all meant. After the men had
walked fifty yards toward the creek the
moon drifted out from behind bank of
clouds, and revealed to the eyes of the
robes, their faces being concealed. while
the white cone shaped hats were mounted
on their heads. 1t was wierd and
CHASTITY spectacle. The masked men all
carried switches in their arms, and a
number f1ourished knives in the air
Before Doolan and his companions
could draw back seven ghost-like figures
ran behind the miners and compelled
them to
THROW UP THEIR HANDS,
after which they were marched to the
waters edge and surrounded by heavy
guard Then one of them addressed the
miners in gruff voice, Informing them
they would behold the last act of the
White Cap tragedy.
Turning on his heel the man, evidently
the leader, gave a shri1l whistle, which
caused clump of bushes to part twenty
yards off in the woods Out
of the opening emerged four
White Caps, carrying naked man whose
figure resembled a quarter of raw beef.
This appearance was caused, the leader
told the affrighted miners, by having
twenty lashes of cat-e-nine- tails laid
on him. When the procession reached
the spot where DoOlan and the White
Caps stood, the bleeding man, who was
unconscious, was held up in front of
them, and Doolan recognized him as
Thomas Hague of Coal Run, reputed
harmless idiot
Doolan mustered up enough courage to
ask why
THE UNFORTUNATE WRETCH
was so treated, when the White Caps re-
marked that Hague had tried to assault
girl on her way to Shamollin early in the
evening, and that one of the band saw
him and rescued the girl. He told the
man to go home, after which he knocked
him down, tied his limbs, carried him
into the woods and bound him to Il tree.
He then reported the case to the rest of
the brethren, and they are now wreaking
vengeance on the wrongdoer
A rope was tied around Hague, and he
was cast into the cold stream and dragged
up and down III the water for a short
while, when he was laid on the sand.
The White Caps then ordered Doolan
and his men to kneel and remain in that
position until they were out of sight. The
men did so and the band dispersed into
the woods. The men carried Hague into
a hostelry in Springfield where he now
lies
AT THE POINT OF DEATH.
The alarm was at once given and bands
of angry miners secured the woods for
miles around, but no trace of the brutes
could be found
In yesterday mornings mail were a
number of warnings to different people
TO leave Shamokin in twenty-four hours
or receive punishment from the White
Caps 1t is feared there will be blood
shed, as every body is heavily armed
At the time that Hague was receiving
his brutal treatment similar scene was
being enacted in forest near Milton,
thirty-five miles away, where two white
men and negro were taken from their I.
cabin by body of masked men, who tied
the captives to trees and dashed them I'M
mercifully. No clew to the perpetrators
has been discovered.