The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1916-10-10
Brutal Assaultand Murder

/
afternoon on receipt of the report that
a murder had been committed near
Atsion. The Sheriff and Detective
Parker at once got busy and went to
the scene and have been working on
the case ever since.
Andrew J. Rider, the well-known
cranberry grower, who has extensive
boys between Atsion and Harmon
ton, was in an automobile, going to-
wards Atsion. In the car were his
daughter, Mrs. Elsie Smathers, Mr..
Rider, Henry Rigby, and Henry
Rider, brother of the cranberry grower,
whose home was in Howell, Mich
igan, and who was on a visit to
his brother. The car had run around
the store of Andrew Etheridge,
at Atsion, and was going into the road
to Hampton. When near a little
bridge short distance up the road,
several masked men suddenly sprang
up and began firing at the occupants
of the car. Andrew Rider received
three bullets, Rigby was struck by six
bullets, and Mrs. Smathers was shot
twice. Henry Rider was killed. Mrs.
Smathers, despite her wounds, chung
to the wheel of the car and drove it to
the house of David Kill, foreman for
Mr.. Rider. There the account of the
shooting was given and word was sent
to the authorities in various places.
Medical assistance was summoned and
the sufferers were hurried to a Phil
adelphia hospital.
Mrs. Smathers told of the attack.
Notwithstanding she was suffering
from the wounds she had received she
kept up her courage and was highly
complimented by the hospital staff
upon the remarkable nerve she dis
played. She said the party started out
about ten o'clock, with $4, 1000 in the
auto, for the purpose of paying the
cranberry pickers. She was running
the car and her uncle, Henry Rider,
was at her side. On reaching lonely
spot in the road several masked men
suddenly jumped up and began firing.
A bullet went through Mrs. Smathers'
back and she fell to the floor of the
machine. Her feet slipped from the
clutch and the auto stopped. Henry
Rider also fell to the floor and it was
evident that he had been shot. An
drew Rider drew a revolver and began
firing at the assailants and Rigby also
fred at the men who kept up continu-
al firing. In short time every oc-
Icupant of the auto had been hit by the
bullets. Andrew Rider was shot in
the face, arm and leg. Rigby received
two bullets in his back, one in his leg
one in his right arm, one in his chest
and one in his shoulder. Mrs. Smath
ers was shot in the back and bullet
was imbedded in her thigh. DESPITE
her wounds, the woman kept her senses
and knowing that something mus
tbe done threw herself on the wheel ant
| drove the machine to the house of tn,
foreman at Hampton. The attacking
, party did not get the $4,000.
( Detective Parker was among the frs
officers to arrive at the scene of tn
murder. From what lie could learn
E man had been lying in the bushes a
. the western end of the bridge an
! when the auto arrived he arose an
: gave the signal which brought th
Others out. The assailants had used
car and had been seen to go to th
Q south of the store, past the cranberr
II houses, out into the woods where the
\ evidently waited for the other car
= come along. After doing the shootin
the car was driven to Medford, then {
IT Mount Holly and down to Philade
!, phia. 1t had been noticed, howeve
by a man at Atsion, and he fortunat
+ ly took the number of it and marked
" on building near by. On the road
l. card was dropped bearing the addreI
* of a man in Philadelphia. This was
8, clue and on this the police worked, al
through this Frank Vessella, of Phil
y delphia, was arrested. He gave info
nation that led to other arrests. Mil
in di Marco, who had worked on t
81 Rider boys, was arrested, and t
police held that she was the instigat
as of the crime. Giuseppe Rosso was al
es, taken into custody.
After trying to get the parties W
lor had been arrested to give some inf
,et nation the police changed their min
mt about the girl being the ringleader a
thought she was tool of the mt
me Another arrest made later was Fra
tinT Ledonne, who drove the auto in viii
ETY. the bandits rode. OF course all the
got rested parties denied any connecti
ss; with the crime. They admitted bel
nee nee in the neighborhood of Atsion
claimed to have been visiting frien