The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1909-07-20
l|FEFORL |fE|S FEUO'S GRIM RULE;
ST. LOUIS SEES men AND WOMEN DIE

Special Corrsspondsnos 20 The Press
ST. LOUIS, July 2o.--With two
men slain in political feud and
two more shot, Mrs. Marie Mohrle.
widow of the first victim, kissed
her five year old son as he slept
and sent revolver bullet into her
breast.
Now, as she lies between life
and death in hospital, thls city
is beginning to take account Off,
of the most remarkable clashes n
the history of ward politics.
During the last campaign Con-
stable Sam Young was the demo-
cratic leader in the Fifteenth ward,
and Fred Mohrle was his neighbor
and his political foe.
The Sunday before election
Young and Mohrle met by chance.
Both drew revOlvers. A dozen shots
rang out, and Young fell dead.
Mohrle and William Wright, q
friend, were arrested for the kill
ing.
When they we're arraigned the
next day police had to force way
for the prisoner through a crowd.
AS Mohrle stood covering at the
dock, small. dark haired man
pushed his way beside him.
Never fear the law" he whis-
pered, and Mohrle smiled. At last
he had found friend.
"Why?" he whispered back.
Because" the stranger Missed,
j"we'll get you before the law has a
,chance at you." This was on
fApril 5.
June the trial came The same
crowds that hGd watched the two
men arraigned month before
were there. The election had been
decided and the gangs fiat of re-
venge was sealed.
Mohrle and Wright could hear
the crowd murmur above the clang
of their prison doors as they were
led out. Mohrle came first As
the turnkey turned to lock the
door, Michael Kane, Young's
friend, faced Mohrle. Without a
word, Kane raised a. revolver and
shot Mohrle dead. The report
echoed through the dingy Four
Courts building, where Folk had
sent boodlers to the penitentiary.
Mohrle fell into the arms of "a
policeman who was there to pro-
tect Dim. Wright, trembling and
pale, was rushed back to his cell.
When the shot echoed on the
judges ears upstairs he knew what
It meant. Before the crowds won
der had been satisfied the bailiff
raped loudly.
Court is adjourned" the Judge
cried.
Then Mrs. Mohrle went out with
her son and saw an ambulance TAX
ing her husbands body away. Well
might Wright, the only one alive
who was involved in the original
feud, tremble. Only few days be-
fore the death of Mohrle, Wright,
out on bonds heard someone call
him. Thinking the gang had got"
him, he opened fir con two men
and shot Alfred Nelson, a by
stander.
Last week, when he finally was
acquitted, Wright accidentally shot
Charles Tozer In the nome OF the
widow of Mohrle. He had gone
insane.
The life of one of the gang had
been taken, and a life had paid the
forfeit The gangs score was
wiped out.
But day after day a little woman
In black was trying to comfort her
son, who was crying ror daddy"
Hostile neighbors pointed to her
veil of crepe and SAID:
"She wouldn't be wearing that,
only her man got Sam Young, and
he just had to die, too"
A diary found under her pillow
after she shot herself showed her
thoughts. She kept this diary be-
side the revolver that she used.
Everything is gone,' she had
written In a trembling nand.
Everything Is gone-my sweet
heart Is dead. The gang Is after
me. l think had better kill my
self before they kill me. They
would not shoot me like they did
sweet heart They'd drag me into
an alley and choke me to death be-
fore ! could scream"
Seven violent deaths in the Fiji
teenth ward in the last few years
the police ascribe to the feud feel
ing that caused the latest political
outbreak Of murder. A secret or
ganization grimly called the Jolly
Five" was headquarters a few
years ago Of what the police called
school Of crime. Two cardinal
principles of conduct were taught
there.
One was get your man.
Don't peach" was the other.
An old church was the club.
house. Nightly orgies saw the raft
ers which once had echoed to
words Of prayer and the music of
hymns, .sresounded with course
jokes and drunken songs.
One night policeman who went
In and ordered the noise to stop
was shot as he spoke.