Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-12
FATHER Of GIRL
LEADS RANCHERS
BENT ON LYNCH|NC
Posse Securing Countryside Near
Venice Is Joined by Dep
uty Sheriffs
SEARCHER CARRIES DYNAMITE
Exhaustion Forces Abandonment,
Temporarily, of Man Hunt
Continued Night and Day

VENICE, Nov 11.--After an all-night
and all-day search, a man hunt for the
assailant of Lulu Mclaughlin, aged IA
years, daughter of Will Mclaughlin, a
prosperous rancher living east of
Venice, was abandoned late tonight,
and it is declared that the ability of
the fugitive to elude his pursuers be-
fore sheriff deputies arrived was all
that prevented a lynching. Heading
the posse of ranchers was the father of
the girl. 1t was the intention to hang
the man in the grove where the attack
occurred, according to report. The
search will be resumed tomorrow morn
ing If the man is not caught before
that time.
Soon after the girl struggled to her
home late yesterday afternoon and tod
of the attack Mclaughlin spread the
alarm to his neighbors, and it was but
a short time before a score of deter
mined men had gathered at the Nc
Laughiin home. AL of the men were
them carried a quantity of dynamite
to be used in case the assailant was
captured.
Some of the members of the search
ing party announced that it was the in
tention to lynch the man.
Lining up in front of the home, the
men put themselves under the orders
OF Mclaughlin. The father of the
girl did not delay for ceremony, but
gave the word as soon as a sufficient
number had arrived, and the man hunt
was on.
Spreading out in a semicircle, the
posse started beating through all the
groves and underbrush in the vicinity
OF Rogers grove, where the girl was
attacked.
HAVE SYSTEM OF SIGNALS
The searchers had arranged a system
of signals to summon each other, and
several times when some member OF
the party believed he was upon the
quarry he sounded the signal, bringing
other members of the party to the
spot in a wild scramble and keeping
the searchers on edge with excitement
The sensational search only served tC
increase the anger of the posse, and
it is declared that had any of the false
alarms proved true and the man beer
captured the threat to lynch him would
have been carried out.
After a thorough search of the coun-
try in one direction the posse started
out from the grove and continued the
hunt in the other direction, but with
out result. Five or six miles of terri
tory had been covered when the
searchers were forced to seek rest.
Meanwhile an alarm had been sent tC
surrounding places and officers were
dispatched to hunt the fugitive 1t was
reported that a man answering the
description given by the girl had been
seen walking up the Pacific Electric
tracks toward Los Angeles.
This morning deputies were sent out
from the sheriff's office to assist in the
search and see that the man was
brought before the proper legal author
ties should he be captured.
The girl was returning from school
in Ballona township when she was at
tackled. She noticed the man picking
walnuts in Rogers grove, but paid
little attention to him until he accosted
her as she was passing through the
grove The description she gave of the
man has been given to the police OF
all surrounding places.