The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-31
ANOTHER RuTHVEN RIOT
Stones Thrown and Shots Fired at q
Peckville Car.
LECTURER ALONE MAS HURT
Was KnOcHcd Sensclcss BY stone
Three Women and Other Passen.
gers Save Themselves by Fall.
ing on the Cor Floor.

boys
The others aboard the care We're three
well-dressed ladies and their escort, a
Tribune reporter and another passen-
ger. Ruthven alone was painfully in
jured. His scalp was badly cut and he
bled profusely. That the others were
not hurt. and perhaps murdered, was no
fault of the motorman, who, after shut
ting OFF the electric current. jumped
from the platform and returned to his
post only after ardent urgingS.
After the first fuSilade of stones ev-
erybody ON the car fell on the floor for
safety. while the car passed through the
gauntlet formed on each side of the
street by hundreds of men and boys,
from whom came either stones or curses.
only two policemen were on the
scene and they were powerless to con-
troll the crowd The street is very dark
in the vicinity of where the rioting oc-
crured and this prevented the officers
from detecting the stone throwers, who
have not yet been arrested.
RuthvenS lecture took place In the
Christian church on the west side of
North Main avenue. above Providence
Square. 1t was a lecture for men only
and the buildings seating capacity was
fully taxed by thrOng of 400 or 500
men. No trouble occurred inside the
church.
TWO REVOLVER SHOTS HEARD.
While the lecture was in progress
two revolver shots were fired by either
one or two persons in the crowd. which
packed the sidewalks for block on
each side of the street The flash oi
the discharges showed that the shots
were fired in the air and not at the
church. Who fired the revolvers. or the
nhiaft Loo I,, Dot lp,. m
Johler and Hawkes. the only police
men in the vicinity during and after
the lecture. although two other patrol
men and Lieutenant of Police Spell
man Were present earlier in the eve
ming.
Before the shots We're fired and in
the midst of the lecture a shower of
stones was hurled at the side door of
the church. These disturbers. also
eluded arrest. The two episodes served
to give those inside the church "a pre-
monition of trouble and excited the
crowd outside.
The lecture, If such q thing was pos
sible. was more bitter in its arraign-
ment of the Catholic church and Its
clergy than any of Ruthvens previous
efforts. II could not have been that
any great number of Catholic sympa-
thiZers We're In the audience or the
speakers utterances must have start
ed u riot in the edifice. When the lee
ture was ended, Ruthven, as he has
always done at the conclusion Of his
talks. called for volunteers to escort
him into the city.
When the audience filed out of the
church the crowd outside was quiet and
orderly. for which state of affairs nc
little credit is due to Patrolmen Johlel
a nd JauE.S uhn ~ h., ,pilct nf
eral hundred persons. kept those on the
sidewalk moving. and suppressed sew
eral attempts made to start shouting
and jeers. The street was very dark In
the vicinity of the church. and ii was
only by the closest scrutiny that Il per-
son could he recognized. So wher
Ruthven, with ]. NJ. East and :. NJ
Withprs, jr.. came down the steps. his
identity was not at once made known
ESCORT FOR RUTHVEN.
The Ruthven party. with Patrolman
Hawkes. u: their left and Patrolman
Johler i'm the rear, was not discovered
until 1t had reached the narrow street
crossing a few rods south of the church
and stood in the semidarkness waiting
for ca Meanwhile the crowd thick
cred about Ruthven. his friends and
the policemen, and also became more
dense on the opposite side of the street.
There were no indications of violence
unless so great quiet among such a
large and contra humored crowd could
portend suppressed excitement.
Ruthven had to wait only about
! three minutes for Peckville car in
charge of Conductor T.. l.. keene and
Motorman G. Mastrimanni. Inside
were three middle aged and we'll
dressed women and their escort, whose
"A - l,a Ian, al II
| S. Keene, a brother of the conductor
and who was taking ride for pleasure.
| No remarks We're made when RuthVen.
East and Withers entered the car from
the rear and The Tribune reporter took
position on the front platform.
Motorman Mastrimanni had no soon
er set the car i'm motion than yell was
| given and a shower of stones. most of
| them as large as q mans fist came
! crashing through the windows of the
car. One of the largest stones struck
Ruthven behind his right ear, and with
| the blood squirting from the wound he
| fell senseless to the floor. The others
| in q promiscuous heap sought safety
on the floor.
MOTORMAN LEFT THE CAR
Then Motorman Mastrimanni lost his
presence of mind and shut off the cur
rent and jumped from the platform.
| BY this time the scene was one of wild
| disorder. At least two pistol shots
! were fired. by whom or in what uirec-
| tion is not known; the women screamed
| and many in the crowd gave vent to
curses. misses and groans The stones
continued to rain against the side of
/ the car and through its already shat
! tered windows The motorman was
| coaxed and threatened to return to his
| post and the car was again started.
| Meanwhile Fast, who is employed in
| the offices of the Delaware. Lackawan-
ma and Western company. and young
| Withers, who is a brother of W. IL.
| Withers. the paper man, had raised
Ruthven to half kneelng position and
were fruitlessly attempting to stop the
| flow of blood from the wound on his
| head.
| For six or seven rods the massage of
the car was marked by volleys of
stones. and during the slightly greater
| distance that led to the weli-iighted
switch at Providence Square, there
were cries of Kill the -" "Shoot
the --!'' Hang him." etc. etc.
| During the moment that the car
stopped to permit the passage of car
going in an opposite direction, few
stones were thrown. but only crashed
against the woodwork. In the blocl
below the square handful CT grave
was thrown against the broken win
dows, and that was the end of the VIC
| lence.
THE WOMEN ALIGHTED.
A block further down the women and
the man accompanying them alighted
1t was not until the Diamond flats. near
the Base Ball park, was reached that
Ruthven's wound ceased to bleed. His
face. collar. shirt and coat was mass
of blood. He was pale from loss of
blood. but gave no sign by word or man
ner that he had been unnerved by the
exciting episode.
When Ruthven's boarding house at
the corner of Spruce street and Franklin
| avenue was reached he said good night