The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-07-06
TWENTY WILL DIE.
Roughs Attack a German
Catholic Picnic at
Siberia, Ind.
WOMEN FATALLY KICKED
Wives and Children Fight for
Their Husbands and Fathers
Leader of the Mob Killed.

| ~
by German Roman Catholics az Siberia.
Perry county. Thursday afternoon, three
/ persons are dead, I've fatally wounded
and fifty seriously hurt. The desperate
fight. which lasted for an hour, was
precipitated by a gang of local toughs.
whose numbers were augmented by addi-
tions from the swamp locality along
the Ohio River. They came to the picnic
infiamed with whislzey, and armed with
clubs and knives, and started fight in
| which thousand persons engaged
Many of the injured are women and
children. for it seems that the intru-
ders spared neither sex nor age. Owing
| to the remote locality of the place, de-
| tails are meagre. The most reliable in
formation is telephoned by the surgeon.
who is attending the wounded.
DEAD AND INJURED.
| Fred Elmer.
William Geise.
| Frank Hart.
Those fatally hurt are:-
| Pete: Bennett.
| Robert Dodge
Abner Stroud.
| Samuel Wilson
Woman. name unknown, fatally
kicked.
The little village of Siberia is located
on the northern boundary of Ohio.
which is in the middle of the State and
in the lower tier of counties.
| 1t is bounded on the south by the
| Ohio River, and is midway between
| Louisville, KY, and Evansville, Ind.
| The hamlet of Siberia, fifteen miles from
any railroad, is situated on Anderson
| Greek. The district is very wooded and
| lonely. The little place boasts of few
| dozen struggling houses and a Roman
| Catholic church, the congregation of
which is composed of Germans. They
| are d simple and inoffensive people, but
| have been greatly annoyed recently by
| persons opposed to their religion. Thurs
| day they planned to enjoy a great picnic
| in the woods surrounding the village.
| The entire population turned out to at
| tend and all went smoothly enough until
| several gangs of disturbers appeared on
| the scene and began to make trouble.
There were a number of booths on the
grounds where intox1cants were served
These were literally patronszed by the
intruders, who soon began to insult the
Germans and their wives. The priest
who was present, counseled his people
to avoid trouble if possible and to pay
drunken marauders. Mistaking this
tolerance for cowardice, the intruders
became bolder and soon precipitated a
fight which in few moments assumed
the proportions of desperate riot, in
which everybody took part. Clubs.
chairs and beer bottles were brought
into play, and the peaceful picnic was
Immediately transferred into a group
of struggling men and screaming wome1
Samuel Wilson. a leader of the outsiders.
was armed with a huge knife, which he
welded on every side stabb:ng or cut
ting many persons. He was finally op-
posed By a sturdy German who was
more than a match for him until Wilson
plunged the knife into him. AS the
man fell back. the blood squirting from
the CHASTITY wound, his wife. rendered
desperate by the sight, sprang through
the crowd and dealt Wilson a terrible
blow with a. beer bottle. crushing his
skull.
KICKED A WOMAN.
During the melee one of the intruders
kicked a woman about to become a
mother, killing her child and fatally in
juring her. The few police officers on the
ground were totally unable to stay the
battle and We're beaten down by the
infuriated mob Women fought beside
their husbands and screaming children
were kicked aside as they sought to save
their parents from injury. 1t soon be-
came apparent to attacking party that
they would be annihilated if the fight
| continued, and, after their leader was
| laid low, they began to retreat. They
ran hastily through the woods to where
| their horses were tethered and escaped,
| leaving three of their number on the
| ground for dad. Cots and liters were
| hastily improvised and the dead and
wounded were removed to the church in
| the village and all the physicians in the
neighborhood called in.
Dr. Lemax, a surgeon of White Sulpher
| Well, and his two assistants, were kept
| busy all of the night caring for the
wounded DR.. LemaX states that he saw
ffty-four injured, and believes that sew
| eral of them will die. He says the fight
| began at P. M. and continued for an
| hour.
TWENTY WILL DIE.
A telephone message from White Sui
| phur Well received last evening says
| that at least twenty of the injured will
| die A courier who was sent for sup
| plies for the surgeons. states that three
persons are lead Ali Of them Were
| members of the picnic party, and Will
| son. the leader of The rioters. cannot
| Eve The courier did not see the fight,
but went over the ground yesterday
| morning.
| 1he picnic grounds resemble a battle
field after severe encounter. with
| the exception that the dead and wounded
| had been removed. Broken bottles. clubs
and splintered chairs Uttered the ground
! for half an acre. The sod. which had
been torn up by the struggling mass.
was tinged with blood and bloody gar
ments torn off in the desperate enooun-
! ter was strewn about. Up to this time
| there has never been a serious out
| break between the German Roman
Catholics and their opponents in the vi
cinity, although there nave been minor
encounters, indicating that the feeling of
| higotry was growing. Threats were
made that the roughs of the neighbor-
| hool would make trouble at the picnic.
but the Germans relied upon their num-
bers to awe any attempt to disturb
| them. Threats had been made before
and no trouble had resulted. SO little
1