The New York herald., 1921-05-30
BOUCK WHITE TAKEN
FROM BED, FL0GGED,
TARRED, FEATHERED
Masked Men Seize ParlOr
Red Leader on Brides
Cruelty Charges.
DRAGGED OUT BY ROPE
Citizens of Marlboro, N. Y,
Flog Radical Agitator
Outside Home.
WIFE is SAFE IN HOTEL
Couple Were Married April p
in Paris-Lived in Lonely
Shack in Foothills.
WIFE is SAFE IN HOTEL

/
Special Despatch to THE New YORK HERALD
PoUoHKEEPsE. May 29.-Bouck White,
radical agitator, founder of the Church
Of the Social Revolution, and the man
who served Jail terms In New York
for invading Calvary Baptist Church
and for burning an American flag,
was horsewhipped and tarred and
| feathered last Monday night by a
group of citizens of Marlboro N. Y,
because they believed he had been
cruel to his bride of less than five
weeks, Mrs. Andre Emillie Simon
| White, who is now seeking an annul-
ment of the marriage on the grounds
OF fraud. The mixture o. tar, asphalt,
carbolic acid and feathers was applied
50 thoroughly that when White re-
moved it he took with it large sections
Of skin. The back of his neck to-day
seemed to be almost skinless.
According to the story told by the
People Of Marlboro and corroborated to
a large extent by White. although he
insists that the group was composed
OF "city toughs," the agitator was
| asleep in bed when three automobiles
| filled with masked men drew up in
front of the rude stone and wooden
shack in which he had been living In
| retirement for the last three years.
The shack is in the foothills Of the
Shawangunk Mountains. one OF the
| most desolate spots In Ulster county.
White was dragged from bed, rope
tied around his waist and he was
hauled into the middle Of the dirt road
that ends at the shack. There he was
| fogged by the masked men until he
| dropped from exhaustion. after which
his pajamas were ripped from his back
and the tarring and feathering done.
| This Is the story that the neighbors.
| including men who are said to have
taken part in the affair, tell, but White
says the truth is somewhat different.
| He said he had been treated roughly
by gang Of city toughs," and he told
reporter for THE New YORK HERALD
who visited his shack yesterday that he
| had not been tarred and feathered, but
| that he had been beaten When asked
| what was the matter with his neck, he
said he had been sunburned. The
asitator declared that the "toughs'
| threw him into an automobile and drove
| him to a town south of Newburgh,. a dis
tance of more than thirteen miles, where
he was thrown out after promising to
do right by his wife," and left to make
his way back home as best he could.
Admits Marital Troubles.
Reporters who visited White at his
| shack found him asleep In a rustic swing
in the front yard. With him as his COM
panion on the thirty acre estate was
William Sanger. an artist and the hus-
band of Mrs. Margaret Sanger of birth
control fame, who Is now in Europe.
Sanger has studio on the groundA
which huge signboard announces is
"Bouck Whites Place" When the re-
porters came in White arose to a sitting
position in the swing, but he did It with
difficulty. and rubbed himself caress-
insly. as IL he was in considerable pain.
Its all true" he said. when asked
about his marital troubles you boys
can go the limit. Never mind me. but
take care OF her. Give her the best
of it,"
The man who was so spruce and dap
per and so careful Of his appearance
while leader of the parlor reds in New
York city was dressed shabbily. He
wore pair of old army shoes, through
which his toes poked; his elbows pre-
truded from holes in q dirty gray
sweater and he wore the remnants Of a
linen hat. He declared he had told his
wife that he was an agitator, but said
he probably did not make her realize
fully the extent to which he was com
mitted to the cause OF social revolution" /"
1T is Just one more" he said "of the
10000 marriages between French women
and American men since the war that
have turned out unfavorably. French
publicists and statesmen are beginning
TO concentrate on the fact and are trying
TO discourage such unions. II is Just
a case OF two opposite strains OF tenn
permanent not mixing French and Amer.
lean marriages do not turn out right
II is not my fault and II Is not her
fault. II is merely because tho French
temperament cannot get used to Amer
.can frontier ways. I consider myself a
frontersman. My place Is at the end
OF the road and ] am. therefore. prac-
tically at the frontier"
White denied that he ever had struck
his wife, as she claims. but he said that
one time during a difference in opinion
he picked her up and carried her to her
bedroom. He has several scratches on
his face 10 prove his assertion that Mrs
White did not like that. When he was
asked why he had buried himself in the
mountains White said:
says World Has Brainstorm.
The war broke up my work down
there in New York city. Ny agitation
was all before the war and had a right