Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-12-20
ATTORNEY P. H. LYNCH RECOV-
ERING IN MILWAUKEE,.
VICTIM OF cARBoLIc ACID
Young Oconto Lawyer Assauloeo w
Woman Expects Soon to 20
Home to Testify-Mrs. Snalp,
widow Editor, Under Arrest
Lynch Tells His Story.


n LYNCH of Oconto, who had carDoiio
ocid thrown in his eyes by Iemale
assailant on the evening OF Dec. !
ond who has been under treatment d.
G. Ioseph's hospital in this city since
that time is doing remarkably well
and expects to be able to go noln0
ehor+lv after Christmas, to TESTIFY III
tho hearing of Mrs. Lef5a~ A. onalp
rrbo has been arrested charged Will
+bn assault DR.. Schneider, VINO IS
in charge of the case, says tnat MI
lynch i doing better than ne nau
hoped for and that he will save Tue
sight of both eyes, though at present
he is unable to say whether the slsn'
of the left eye will be permanently
affected or not. The patient Is GAM
ing every day and can see better each
day with both eyes.
Until yesterday, the condlulon VI
Mr.. Lynch was so bad that ne was Ho1
nermitted to have visitors, except MS
close friends, and every precautlon
was taken to keep him free from ex-
citement of amy kind. Mr.. 2Lyncn
90 nerfeotly satisfied in his own mlno'
be saws as to the identity of the Wo-
man who committed the assault uRon
him. and he has little doubt OF MS
ability to to prove the case against
her. =
Mr.. Lynch's story of the assault is
as follows:
"Abor1t Nov. 10, 1 received a letter
from some unknown person.. nialleu
at Chicago, warming me that nau
q bitter enemy in Oconto, and tnat
the person would seek to do me great
injury. also that the plot was about
rine. and that if one means failed,
others would be found. The writer
urged me to be ON my guard IN order
to save myself from, any unpleasant
consequences of that kind. l gave
little heed to the letter thinking that
II had no foundation yet [ mentally
summed up my personal relations III
an effort to discover who could De
nv enemy to such Il an extent Cnat
there might be personal danger 70
me. The first person l thought OF III
that category was Mrs. Sharp, pub
Usher of the Oconto Enquirer. for l
knew she was not friendly to me, but
I had no idea that she could be med
itating any scheme that might result
in anything more than an unpleasant
situation. I thought of other people
who had been in litigation in some
closely contested cases that had
won. In such cases I, new OF no one
who would in their anger take such
measures as my correspondent sug-
gested. The conclusions I came to
was that somebody was trying to
have some fun with me and I dropped
the matter entirely from my mind.
GA few days later, think it was
Nov. 16, I was walking in the evening
toward one of the stores of the city
to see a friend who clerks there,
when met Mrs. Sharp on the corner,
accompanied by her little boy. AS
she passed me, she threw red pepper
in my face and a little of it went into
one of my eyes. [ turned about and
asked her what she meant by such an
act, but she made no answer, and the
boy, who was almost crying, took hold
of her dress and said: Come along;
do not stop any longer or something
to that effect l did not know what
the substance was that had been
thrown in my face, but as my eye felt
The effects of it, I went into a drug
store and showed the druggist some
Of the powder on my coat. He said
at once that it was red pepper and
washed my eyes so as to remove it
from them.
after that, whenever I passed her
place of business, she looked very
ugly at me and I kept a proper dis
lance, I can assure you. Matters ran
along until the evening of Dec. 1,
when as I was walking along the
street, thinking of a business matter
and almost oblivious Of everything
else, [ saw a woman, accompanied by a
small boy, coming along the cross
street at the corner and short dis
lance away. simply noted that she
nSlu uOT u0du muuSu Ill SOulCLulUS
that made me think of the Sisters of
Charity, and the boy had parcel in
his hand. L gave them no farther at
tention, but just before they reached
the corner, / heard the woman say
something in low tone to the boy.
Almost on the instant they were about
to pass behind me, the woman turned
and threw something in my face that
blinded me and made me cry out with
agony. She then started away, but in
what direction did not know, as I
could not see. A friend who was at
tracted by my call for help came and
led me to doctors Office, where l had
what attention could be given to me at
that time, and then I took the first
train for Milwaukee to have treatment
for my injuries.
Mrs. Sharp is woman of perhaps
35 to 38 years of age and am % years
old T went 10 OcOntO to engage in