Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-07-06
A CHURCH PICNIC RIOT.
Toughs Attacked German Cath- olics, and a Battle Followed.
THREE KILLED; FIFTY WOUNDED.

 The Fight Lasted Over an Hour, and Then
 the Intruders Were Driven Out, Leaving
 Some of Their Comrades Dead on the
 Ground. , -.-
 CHICAGO, July 6.-Startling reports of Q desperate riot at Siberia, Perry county, are coming in by telephone and couriers from the scene of the encounters. Dr William Lomax of White Sulphur ha. just telephoned that l, GOO men and wom en took part in the fight; that three mer are dead, four fatally hurt and 50 serious ly injured.
 The dead arc:
 Fred Elmer.
 William Geye.
 Frank Hart
 Those fatally hurt arc:
 Peter Bennett.
 Robert Dodge.
 Abner Stoud.
 Samuel Wilson.
 Siberia is but a hamlet of few dozen struggling houses and q Roman Catholic church. the congregation of which is com posed of Germans. They are simple and inoffensive people, but have been greatly annoyed by persons opposed to their reli- zion.
 Thursday they planned to enjoy great picnic in the woods surrounding the will lage. The entire population turned out tc enjoy the picnic, and all went smoothly enough till several gangs of disturbers ap- peared on the scene and began to make trouble.
 There were a number of booths on the ground where intoxicants were served. These were liberally patronized by the in l 5ruders, who soon began to insult the Ger l mans and their wives. The priest, who was present, counseled his people to avoid trouble if possible and to pay no attention to the jeers of the half drunken maraud- CTS. Mistaking this tolerance for coward ice, the intruders became bolder and soon precipitated fight, which in a few mo- ments assumed the proportion of a riot, | in which everybody took part. Clubs and bottles were brought into play, and the l peaceful picnic was immediately trans formed into @ group of struggling, CUTS | ing men and screaming women. l The Rioters Driven Out. Samuel Wilson, Q leader of the outSid- | CTS, was armed with a huge knife, which he wielded on every side, stabbing and | cutting many persons. He was finally | opposed by sturdy German, who was more than a match for him until Wilson plunged his knife into his mock. As the 1 man fell back his wife sprang through the crowd and dealt Wilson terrible blow 1 with n beer bottle, crushing his skull.
 During the melee one of the intruders kicked woman about to become a moth CT, killing her child and fatally injurine her.
 It soon became apparent to the attack 1 ing party that they would be annihilated | if the fight was continued, and after their | leader was stricken down they ran hastily l through the woods to where their horses were tethered and escaped leaving three of their number on the ground for dead Cots and filters were hastily improvised and tho dead and wounded removed to the church in the village and all the physi clans in the neighborhood called upon l Dr. LOmaX, surgeon of White Sulphur Well and his two assistants were kept busy all night caring for the wounded. 1 Dr. Lomax states that he saw 54 injured and believes that several of them will die He says tho fight began at o'clock in tho afternoon and continued for an hour.
 A telephone mt s;lge from White Sul phur Wells last evening says at least 20 O the injured will die. A courier from tn, scene of the battlr, who was sent for sup plies for the surgeons, states that thrc' persons arc dead. Two of them were mem bers of the picnic party, and the other i Wilson, the leader of the rioters. Nearl, all of the rioters arc known, although it i certain that in the party there was a mum Der of rough characters from the distric lying near the Ohio river. Many of tn rioters carried buggy spokes concealed l in their sleeves, and used them with ter rible effect, sparing neither age nor sex. The local magistrate has sworn in near ly every man in the community as dep uty to preserve the peace.