Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1902-09-18
THE BUTLER RIOT.

The strangest procession that Butler
has ever seen came marching up Main
street, last Saturday night, after 10
O'Clock. In the centre of it were half
dozen men carrying an apparently dead
man, around them were several police
men with drawn clubs, and surround
ing them all was great crowd of men
and boys yelling kill him." lynch
him" etc
Upon inquiry it was learned that the
apparently dead man was a worthless
character of the town, known as Jerry
Bennett; that he had been caught in the
act of brutally abusing little girl, that
he had been beaten, and kicked and
scared into insensibility; and that he
then was in possession Of the police who
were taking him to Jail, while at the
same time guarding him from the mob,
who wanted to finish him.
Arriving at the Jail at about 1890 !.
m. the police had to fight their way in
with their prisoner. but succeeded in
landing him inside the doors. And
then as the news of Benefits deed
spread, the mob grew larger and more
desperate. A rope was secured and
swung over limb of one of the large
| trees near the jail and the mob demand
ed Of the sheriff that he give up his
prisoner. which Sheriff Hoon refused to
do and ordered the crowd to disperse.
Instead Of doing so. however, they
secured long timber, pushed the police
! guarding the door aside, battered it TO
pieces, and were met in the hallway by
the sheriff and deputies with drawn
pistols Several shots were fired and
one man was hit, whose cries made the
| crowd hesitate, and then retire from the
| Jail and spend their vengance on the
building by breaking the windows. For
two long hours the sheriff and his depu
ties faced that mob, ere they would dis
peree, and several hundred dollars worth
Of damage was done to the building.
The cause of all this trouble, Joseph
or Jerry Bennett, is about twenty-seven
wears of age. He has lived III Butler for
| the past twenty years, during which he
| has made for himself very unsayory
record He had been in few small
scrapes before enlfsting in the 15l N. \.
| Infantry for the Spanish war; while In
| the service he was court marshalled.
After being mustered out ne returned
| to Butler one night he was caught try
| ing to burglariZe house and received a
load of bird shot in the back. A year
ago he was charged with breaking and
entering a beer house near the West
Penn station and stealing two cases OF
beer. He was convicted. His mother
made strong plea to the Court for
mercy, and he was given so days for
breaking and entry while sentence for
larceny was never passed. A few months
ago he made an unsuccessful attempt TO
cut his throat and hang himself while
in the borough lookup for drunkenness
Two years ago he il said to have made
an attack on little girl He made his
home with his mother and sister on
Elm street.
John Wagner, a tailor employed by
w. II Young. lives near the Bennetts
Wagner has u little daughter, Theona,
who will be seven years old in October
Saturday morning Bennett filled NJ
with whiskey. After supper that evening
he saw Theona, who knew him, near
his home and took ner to a fruit stand
near the West Penn station for candy.
Then they walked up Jefferson street ~
far az Mexican. About 1880 a woman
saw Bennett taking the child towaids
Puryis' lumber yard, and told Mr..
Wagner. He and others at once Went
after them, but could not find them. it
became generally known, the police
were sent for and the search became
general. About ten o'clock Lewis Pat
ton heard feeble cries Of ''Mamma
namnIa" and means coming from BE-
meath boxcar in the West Penn tiicgh
yard A lantern was swung under Jae
car and disclosed Bennett with the
child in his embrace. They had b-en
there over two hours. Both were coverd
with the little girls blood. Bennett
underclothing. removed later in the Jal!,
was saturated with it, Theoua was
pulled out and given to her sister who
hurried home With the nearly uUcon-
scious child and Dr. Moore was called
to attend her Bennett refused 70 come
out and was finally kicked and dragged
out after Esq. Gilghrist had fastened a
pair of handouts on him Bennett re
fused 10 get up but lay groveling face
downward in the cinders, saying 'OI |
mother, motherl o God forgive me
He frigned fit but few vigorous
kicks knocked that out of bim. Some |
in the crowd which soon collected, |
wanted TO lynch him right there, but |
others prevailed to have him taken to /
Jail Bennett refused to walk. He was
carried few steps but James Madden, |
upon whose little daughter Bennett
tried TO commit an assault two weeks /
ago said carrying was too good. drag I
him" Over the ties, cinders and stones |
Bennett was dragged to Jefferson street. |
Here John Wagner the father was en-
counted. He few ut Bennett, but three |
or four friends grabbed him, pulled hlm !
away and told him to let the law punish |
Bennett. Despite the crowd Policeman |
Graf managed to get Bennett TO the |
Lowry House corner, by hustling him |
into q trolly car At this point IL wss
necessary to take Bennett from the car
and crowd again soon surrounded |
him. Here some hysterical freak of |
woman j0stled her way among the |
men shrieking Don't hurt that man,
/, don't any Of you dare 10 lay q finger on |
him, remember he has mother" The |
woman was pushed out of the crowd |
and some pretty plain things said to her. |
Officers Kemper, Schultz and Nc
Grady arrived to help Graf Bennett |
WAS half dragged, half carried to the |
jail, most Of the kicks and blows aimed |
mt him being received by the officers. |
By the time the Jail was reached the |
crowd had become mob, and il looked !
as though Bennett would be taken from |
the officers at the Jail entrance.
James Gildernew, who had been call |
ed upon by the sheriff, was mistaken by |
the crowd for Bennett, and they seized |
him and began jerking him toward q |
tree. This depression of the mob's fury |
enabled the officers to get Bennett in
side the Jail.
Then Thousand men, the brains Of |
some of whom had been fired by liquor, |
became n raging mob. The policemen |
stood on the Jail step Sheriff Hoon |
came out and tried to speak TO the mob. |
1t was useless az the howls, jeers and |
yells could be heard mile away Some |
became very violent and assumed to act
as leaders in the lawlessness. Most Of |
them were strangers. who evidently be- |
longed to the new element in the town. !
The officers and sheriff were ierked |
down from the steps. Some one hurled |
brick through the transom above the |
main door. The crowd surged up
against the door, jerked Sheriff Hoon
away and tried to cave in the door with
their shoulders. a brick thrown through |
an upstairs window barely missed the
head Of daughter OF the sheriff. who
peering down anxious for the welfare of