New-York tribune., 1921-03-03
Town i'm Fury
Over Poison
PEN Letters
Citizens of Sharon, Mass,
Enraged as Each Day
Brings Hundreds of the
Missives From Boston
Slander Men and Women
Postoffice Department Is
Asked to Aid in the Hunt
for the Senders of Notes
Special Dispatch to The Tribune

aopcCf0L DlSpGLCh 10 me IYtbuuS
SHARON, Mass, March Each
mail from Boston to-day brought more
poison pen" letters to further the
campaign Of scurrilty which was
launched against leading citizens yes
tcrday and to feed the fury which has
taken possession Of the town. And
as the campaign of slander progressed
and the rage mounted, money flowed in
growing volume into the pool which
is being raised to bring about the cx-
pose of the plot behind the letters.
To-day's letters came in black bord-
cred envelopes, adding new victims to
the list of maligned. Like the letters
of yesterday, delivered to 152 homes Of
the town, the letters Of to-day selected
highly respected citizens for false ac-
cusation and listed them as persons
who should be "thrown out of town"
The whole town is organized in the
task of running down the person, or
group Of persons, responsible for the
letters, and expense is no object. The
reward of $100 made by Albert Godfrey
and John Collins, two Of the "unde-
sirables" of the letters, has been added
to offers of many more hundreds by
citizens and officials who wish their
names withheld.
Whole Town Aroused
The pre- town meeting political cam
paign, business and all other routine
of community life was largely forgot
ten to-day. The whole town was en-
broiled in the excitement precipitated
by the first letter deliveries Town
al
pivot point for feverishly agitated
throng, which swayed and milled about
and gesticulatcd and talked aud lin
gered hour after hour. Men, women and
children gathered from the homes and
business places and the schools to join
and share in the indignation, to specu-
late on the source Of the letters and to
demand the most energetic kind of in
vestigaton.
Postoffice inspectors from Boston
and members of the state police were
aiding the local authorities in the ef-
fort TO discover the perpetrators of the
gagged in personally conducted inquiries
and every one was pledged to work un-
haltingly until the mystery of the let
ters is solved.
The letters of yesterday afternoon
came in heavy brown manila envelopes.
Each letter was typewriter, manifest
ly by an expert typist. Citizen after
citizen, men and women, was named
and r.ade the subject of some charge.
Leading members of the community
We're called "jail birds" or burglars
or 'drunkards," and there were numer-
Gus other forms of aspersion against
both men and women.
To-day's letters were in the same
tenor and likewise neatly typewriter.
Those engaged in the investigation are
certain that the letters are not the
work Of one person, but Of several.
ture cf Edgar NJ. Hixson, a member Of
the town government, but this is os-
tonsiby forgery and explained to be
such in one clause of the letters. Hix-
son is one of the most energetic in the
effort to capture the plotters.
The letters were all mailed in Boston
The 152 delivered yesterday were post
marked "South Station r. p. O."
Federal Aid Asked
The stationery was of good quality
and most of the letters were carbon
copies or manifolds. The phraseology
was that of an educated person, and the
knowledge of Sharon names indicates
that the author was a resident Of the
town. In some cases the letter had
typewriter appendages to the text as
copied by carbon or in a manifold ma
chine. The plotters evidently had elab-
crate equipment for carrying out their
project
The aid OF the postal authorities in
the search for the "vice letter. plot
ters was enlisted to-day by Selectman
Vernon S. Hawkins. He gathered UP
some of the letters from the persons
to whom they had been delivered anc
bore them into the Federal building al
Boston. Some of the letters were
scraps pasted together after the recip.
tents had torn the letters up in anger
on reading them.