The Washington times., 1920-12-10
LYNCH THREE
AT CEMETERY
Santa Rosa Mob, in Driving
Rain Take Jail at Midnight
Over Sheriff'S Plea.

mob OF lOO men SWooped down on
the Sonoma county Jail early today,
forcibly seized George Boyd, Ter
renee Fits, and Charles Valento, al
legged slayers of Sheriff James A.
Petray, Miles jackson, and Lester
Dorman, and hanged them from the
limb of a tree in a cemetery three
quarters of a mile from town. Boyd,
brought into court today.
SUCCESSORS PLEAS IN VAIN.
The pleas of Sheriff John NJ. Boyes.
successor to the slain sheriff. that the
law be allowed to punish the three
prisoners, were unheeded.
The mob, apparently we'll organ
lied. stormed the Jail. posted MEM
bers of their own band on guard,
overpowered Sheriff Boyes at the
point of dozen rcvolvers and took
his keys. They then unlocked the
cells and removed Byrd. Fits, and
Va1ento.
Fifteen minutes later the bodies of
the men wsEa-hanging from the same
limb of tree projecting over the
fence of the graveyard.
Boyd, who was in the insane ward
of the jail. suffering from a gunshot
wound and peritonitis, was the first
prisoner to be seized. He made no
outcry.
The masked leaders OF the mob
then made their way to where Fits
and Valento were held. and. unlock
ing the doors with the sheriff's keys.
seized the prisoners. Valento and
Fits screamed in terror, but their
cries were unheeded.
ACTION AT MIDNIGHT.
The mob descended on the jail
shortly after midnight, entering the
town from the eastward in fifteen au-
tomobiles. All of its members were
masked, and the plans for the seizure
and lynching of the mob apparently
had been carefully worked out.
Earlier in the evening Sheriff Boyes
had received a telephone tip that he
had better be at the cemetery at
haIf-past II, as something was going
to happen" Instead OF going to the
cemetery. the sheriff went to his Of
fees in the Jail, taking with him five
deputies.
When the battery of automobiles
arrived at the Jail, all wires were
quickly cut and the leaders forced
their way into Sheriff Boyes' office.
mOb Is ADAMNNT.
"My God. boys, let them Ro,- the
,:heriff pleaded. "They're coming into
.vurt today and they will surely he
convicted and hanged. Leave IL to
sac law"
"Not after that" was the laconic
answer of one of the leaders as he
,,ointed to draped picture of the
jate Sheriff Petray that hung on the
vail.
The affair took place in a driving
ain which served to deaden the sound
,.f the mob's operations. The lurid
clare of automobile headlights illu-
minated the scene OF the hanging.
Sheriff Boyes said today that he
rad not recognized any of the mem
icrs of the party There was no pur-
cult. as the members OF the mob dis
,.ppeared in their automobiles after
tue lynching.
GET ROPES FOR SOUVENIRS.
Coroner Frank II. Phillips was no
,ified and early today he cut down
tho bodies and removed them to the
riorgue.
A few moments after the lynching
,ownspeople began to straggle out to
The cemetery, and, as the word of the
iynching spread, crowds began as
,embIing from all parts of Sonoma
county. Many of those in the crowd
demanded pieces of the ropes with
which the men were hanged for
,ouvenirs. Several asked Sheriff
Isoyes to leave tho bodies hanging
chat all the county might view them.
Boyd, valento, and Fits and a
woman named Dorothy Quinlan, were
crested Sunday after n gun fight
with Sheriff Petray and deputies in a
local hotel. 1t was alleged that the
r,on were members of gangs guilty
a recent crimes in San Francisco,
nd were wanted by the San Francis
q nnllce-