The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-12-10
MOB HANGS ;
IN CEMETERY
FOR MURDERS
Of OFFICERS
SIayers Of Sheriff and Two
Detectives Taken From
z Cells and Hanged by Radi-
anCe of Auto Lights.
I(sy the AssOciated Press.)

SANTA ROSA, CAL, Dec. 10.-Geo.
Boyd, Terrence Fits and Chas. VAL
ento accused Of having murdered
Sheriff James A. Petray, of Sonoma
county and Detectives Miles jack
son and Lester M. Dorman here last
Sunday afternoon, were taken from
the county jail early this morning
,- and hanged.
At 1890 o'clock this morning a
mob of about 100 men, all wearing
black masks, entered the jail. over
powered the officers, took their keys
and removed the prisoners to wait
ing automobiles
There was no confusion in the
mob. All had been prearranged, even
to providing acetylene torches with
which to burn the locks Of the cell
doors If need be.
Had the three lived they would
have faced the courts before noon
today on the three murder charges.
The officers were shot down when
they attempted TO arrest the trio on
Sunday as members of San Fran
cisco gang which is charged with
infamous attacks upon a score or
more OF young women in a Howard
street house.
Fifteen machines carried the party.
They moved quickly down the street
to cemetery, three blocks beyond
the city limits. Ropes, had been pre-
pared The men were taken from
the machines and hanged to an oak
tree inside the cemetery.
Headlights of three automobiles
were used to light the scene selected
for the hanging.
Prevent Intrusion.
Members of the mob were sta
toned to prevent intrusion. These
guards and many of the mob were
armed.
Not more than five minutes was
required by the mob to enter the
Jail overpowered the officers and re-
, move the prisoners. Within Is min
utes the three alleged gangsters and
murderers had been lynched
For another Is minutes, while the
bodies dangled from the oak tree N
the glare of the automobile head
lights, the mob waited to make GER
tain their grim task was completed
Then its members departed leaving
the bodies swinging in the darkness
But another crowd soon gathered
to take the places of the execution
ers. The coroner was notified and
SO were city and county officials.
news of what had been done spread
The crowd soon numbered hundreds.
Bodies Swing in Breeze.
They found weird scene. Lights
of new automobiles and in greater
number again lighted the scene. From
the oak the bodies swung in the
breeze in and out of the glare of
the headlights.
The three men were eX-ConVicts
Boyd having served two terms. Fits
three and Valento one. Boyd and
Nalento had been identified last
Monday by three young women as
members Of the gang which attacked
them in a house in Howard street
in one of the more densely settled
sections in San Francisco.
Two attempts to take the men
from Jail here were made last Sun
day night, a few hours after. they
up by officers, and the other failed
when Mrs. Petray, widow of the slain
sheriff, begged friends not to counte-
nance mob violence.
q Last Sunday when the three men
were arrested. a mob of hundreds
surrounded the Jail and attempted
to obtain the prisoners. The MEM
bers of the mob moved to the Jail
without ostentation. A Gordon was
thrown about the structure of gran
ite, concrete and steel.
Take Sheriffs Keys. 'N
Twelve men were detailed to ap-
proach the door. Six entered. Sheriff
John Boyes, appointed after the death
of Sheriff Petray, was. in his private
office at the right with four depu-
ties. The six men were armed. They
covered" Boyes and his deputies
and made them put up their hands.
The officers then were disarmed and
the keys to the Jail taken.
Boyes pleaded with them, but the
men said not a word.
They made him lean over a chair.
While some of the men inside the
Jail guarded the officers, others went
Immediately to the cell of Boyd.
Boyd, suffering from the wound in
flicted by Jackson, had been kept
in a cell because the officers feared
to send him to a hospital for treat
ment on account of feeling against
the three men.
Boyd yesterday was reported to
have developed possibly fatal COM
plications from the wound.
Three steel doors had to be un-
locked to take Boyd. He was on the
ground floor. Upstairs, FittS and
Valento were in cells. The mob lieu
tenants cut through two steel doors
and took them, too.
There wasNpo confusion, no hurry
and no opposition to, the hanging.
The nooses were tied with the expert