Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-05
GYPSIES FIGHT
FIERCE BATTLE
FEUD is CARRIED INTO THE
COURTS
5roomstick Wedding of Queen OF
swarthy Crew Is Followed by
Combat and Recourse to
the Law

| Stlll bearing the marks OF recent
combat and fairly trembling in his
| eagerness to tell his story of the
wrongs, real or alleged, perpetrated
upon his beautiful 14-year-old daugh-
ter Pierre Thompson, chief Of the en-
campment of gypsies on Mission
road, yesterday appeared before Deputy
District Attorney Donnell and swore
to a complaint charging Joseph Lean,
his daughters husband, with almost
every crime of the statutes.
The arrest of Lean yesterday was
another step in the desperate feud be-
ing waged between Thompson. the old
chief. on the one hand and Lean on the
other Yesterday at the request Of the
attorney, the gypsies who were ar
rested on charges of disturbing the
peace were allowed time to get out of
town, but with the new charge to be
taken up the encampment of the
swarthy Zingaris on the Mission road
will probably remain there some time
while the gypses tell their story of love
and hate before Judge Smith of de-
partment 1 of the superior court.
Girl Is Sold
There has always been a feud on be-
tween Thomp- on, the chief of the band,
and Lean, one of it's most powerful
members. Thompson's daughter Lena
! Is the prettiest woman of the band of
gypses. She is rather large for her
age, slender and supple, With great
black eyes and long black hair and is
considered a marvel of beauty among
her tribesmen. To say that the fair
white men were attracted by her
charms would be putting the case
mildly, and the girl was soon given the
title of queen of the band, for with her
pleasant manner and beauty she told
many fortunes. and as a result was the
most valued member of the band.
About a week ago, however, came the
crisis of the trouble. The girl had
reached her fourteenth birthday at
that time and according to the laws
of the gypsies, it would be wrong for
her to longer remain unwedded
So she was place don the market and
the men of the tribe entered bids for
her. In spite of his long standing
hatred for Lean, old Thompson was
forced to give his daughter in maria ge
to the swarthy Joseph last Saturday
afternoon, after Lean had bid in many
horses as the purchase price,
At that time the little beauty was
trotted out to the center of the camp,
where she acknowledged her marriage
to Lean by jumping o er a broomstick.
That ceremony over she went to his
tent to live.
Shocked by Bunco Game
Sunday afternoon, however, Pierre
Thompson desiring to see his many
horses for which he had sold his daugh-
ter hunted up the bridegroom and dis
turbed his tender honeymoon by asking
for the ponies. Lean looked among his
assortment of horses and drove out
three. The animals looked as though
they had been fighting ratters and
| e., 4.
past and were sights to behold. All
were flea bitten and one of them knock
kneed.
The result of the exploitation of pur-
chase price was painful. Thompson
clinched, and Lean broke away and
kicked his father-in-law in the shins.
Thompson spit in his son-in-law's face,
and they went to the ground calling
each other names. 1t was the end of
the forty-second round when Pierre
sent a low blow to his son-in-law's
groin. and had Referee George Siler
been there he would have given the
fight to Joseph, but he was not on the
scene and the rules of battle being
those of the marquis of Gooseberry,
Joseph retaliated by securing a husky
hold on his father-in-law's hair and
yanking out handful. The yell that
came from the older man brought the
Otner ZlngarlS QaSnlnB from their
tents. All took sides and the fight be-
gan. When the police arrived they ar
rested eleven of the battlers.
Gets Warrant for Enemy
The gypsies were released on bail,
and then Lean learned that he might
be prosecuted for bigamy and that he
would probably be prosecuted for liv-
ing with a girl to whom he had not
been legally married. Although Mon
day was legal holiday Lean managed
to find a clerk at the county court
house and he secured a marriage
license, giving his age as 22 years and
that of the girl as 21. When the father
learned of the trick he vowed ven
geance.
Yesterday he laid his case before
Prosecuting Attorney Donnell. First he
wanted Lean arrested on a murder
charge and was later persuaded that
the case was not hanging matter. He
then thought Lean ought to be cut in
small pieces for cheating him from his
horses. He got but little sympathy on
that charge, and then wanted per-
jury charge on the ground that his
daughter had been made to swear
falsely.
Finally Attorney Donnel issued a
warrant charging the gypsy bridegroom
with having taken criminal advantage