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Stories in Part 3:
Bridget Dechant - 1904
'Doc' Howard - 1904
John Smith - 1906
William Brown - 1906
Alonzo S. Kidder - 1907
Clark Hineman - 1907
Maud Smith - 1909
Myrtle Raush - 1908
Margaret Lisk - 1908
1900 - 1909
Husband Held In Shooting
Bridget Dechant
A 14-year-old daughter and her father differed on how Mrs. Bridget Dechant, 32, was fatally shot in the family's Sheridan Ave. home in July 1904.
William Dechant, 37, told police his .38 caliber revolver discharged as he struggled to take it from his wife who threatened to shoot him around 10:30 p.m. July 8.
But Catherine "Katie" Dechant, lying on a bed in the room where the shooting occurred, said her father fired at her mother as she prepared to call police because he was swearing and abusing her.
The sound of the gun brought Mrs. Charles Wilson of nearby Greasley St. into the Dechant backyard where she found the daughter Katie outside and her father at the back door. 'I have done it," he told Mrs. Wilson.
"Done what?" she asked. "Shot Bridget," he answered, "Come on in."
Other neighbors arrived, and entering the house, found Mrs. Dechant unconscious in a chair beside the dining room table, a bullet wound in the left chest.
Dr. W. G, Brindley was called, and found the victim in the throes of death. Dechant and Wilson helped the doctor place her on the bed, but she never regained consciousness. She lived only 15 minutes after hit by the .32 caliber slug.
Police officers Pat Woods and Thomas Bryan came, and Woods took the husband in handcuffs by streetcar to jail.
KATIE, OLDEST OF seven living children of the couple, told her story to police and a reporter. Her father came home about 10 p.m., then went out, returning with a bucket of beer. He began to argue with her mother, she said, using swear words.
Her mother declared she would not allow him to curse with the children present, but he continued. She then warned him she would call the police. Her mother sat down and began to put on her shoes. Her father, she said, went to a dresser drawer where he kept a gun. "I heard him rattle the keys, and then he came back with the revolver in his hip pocket."
"He said, 'You will go to the police?' and her mother replied, "Yes I will," Katie recalled. "Father then pulled the revolver from his pocket and fired. I jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. I screamed, but I do not know what I said."
According to Dr. Brindley, a large gunpowder stain marked the woman's left arm, indicating the gun had been fired at very close range.
Mrs. Dechant, the former Bridget McKeone, was a hard-working woman. Besides raising the large family -- the youngest of which was 17 months -- she was an employee of the bisque wareroom of the McNicol pottery.
One of her three brothers was Thomas McKeone who was representing a New Castle local at the New Jersey convention of the National Brotherhood of Operative Potters.
Dechant, a city native, was a pottery presser by trade, but had not worked regularly for several years. He had operated a restaurant on West Sixth St. some months previous, but had closed it. Otherwise he took odd jobs.
Behind bars at the City Jail with Mayor Weaver present, Dechant told a Review reporter the shooting was an accident.
"I was trying to take the revolver from my wife. Last July she attempted to prevent me from staying in the house overnight, and drew the gun on me"
He said he took the weapon from her and locked it in the drawer. The day of the shooting, he opened the drawer to get some money, and forget to lock it. When he arrived home that night, he said Bridget asked him to get her some beer "as the boy had hurt his foot." He did so, stating she must have got the gun while he was gone.
When he returned, he said, they sat at the table to drink the beer, and she "began to cut up monkeyshines. I asked her if she had learned that from so-and-so (a man who worked at McNicol's)."
"She told me not to mention that name again, and walked over to the bed, reaching down under it. I think she secured the gun then, having hidden it there."
"I mentioned the name again to see what she would do, and she pulled the revolver from her breast. I grabbed for it, and we wrestled about the room. The revolver exploded. . . and Bridget cried that she was shot."
'I sat her down in a chair and called for the children to get the gun to prevent her from using it again. She had threatened me on numerous occasions, and I thought she would carry out her word." The prisoner insisted what he had said to her "had been in fun," and he told her not to get mad at what he said.
After an autopsy and inquest, County Coroner D. J. Jones ruled the victim died "by being shot through the heart by a revolver held in the hand of William Dechant, her husband."
JONES AND DR. Brindley in the postmortem at former McQuilkin undertaker rooms, had been unable to locate the bullet by probing, so they had removed the heart. They found the slug had penetrated the organ, lodging just under the skin at the base of the spine, shattering it.
At the inquest, Katie told essentially same story related to the newspaperman. She added that her parents had quarreled before "but since the baby died he has been doing better. He drank some, but I never saw him drunk. I think he had been drinking Thursday. Mother only took an occasional glass of beer when father brought it home."
Questioned by Jones, Katie said her mother did not go to the dresser while her father was out. The girl said she was saying her prayers at the time, but would have heard her move.
Mrs. Wilson testified of meeting Dechant at the back door. After telling he "had done it," he explained, "We had a quarrel and she could not take it the right way and I shot her. I had to do it."
A haggard and nervous Dechant was bound over the Grand Jury without bond by Mayor Weaver, and escorted to the County Jail at Lisbon on a charge of murder. Three women acquaintances were present when he was placed in the buggy for the trip, and as they bid him farewell, he broke down and wept.
The tragic shooting and the plight of the seven children struck a sad note across the community. Fr. Smyth of St. Aloysius Church was arranging to have the two youngest placed in Catholic institutions at Cleveland.
Two others were to go to a home at Louisville, Ohio, two more at an asylum for the blind at Columbus, and Katie was to be given a home in East LiverpooL
Dechant subsequently pleaded guilty to second degree murder, and was sentenced March 20, 1905, to life in prison.
The sentence was later commuted to 20 years by an Ohio Governor, and he was granted a pardon in October 1915 by the state pardons board after his repeated bids for release.
A Review report commented that his return to East Liverpool was "problematical," noting none of his children were here although some relatives lived in the city.
Ex-Ballplayer Slain
'Doc' Howard
A Black former professional baseball pitcher was shot to death by his live-in white girlfriend in their Fairview St. room late in the summer of 1904.
Charles Allen "Doc" Howard, 36, was downed with a single bullet to the head by Lothe Skiles, 21, a Beaver Falls native who had come to the city when a child of 5
The slaying took place around 1:30 am. Sunday Aug. 15 in a bedroom at the home of his foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Howard, who had cared for him since he was three weeks old.
The younger Howard and Skiles had lived together since April, but had been lovers longer. She was the daughter of Robert Skiles, a kilnplacer. Her mother had died ten years before.
Lothe had a soiled reputation of frequenting the "Smoky Row section of the town, leading a life of dissipation since 15.
'Doc' Howard, a native of the city, had been a star pitcher for the Cuban X Giants. He earned success on local diamonds, leaving to join the Pittsburgh Keystones of the Negro League. The Cuban team later took him on as a pitcher and left fielder.
Around 1901 his arm played out and the Giants released him. He returned to East Liverpool, and was working as a porter at a Diamond St. saloon and umpiring local ball games. "Doc" was described as a popular figure, jovial and good-hearted with a host of friends.
BUT HE AND Lottie were reported to have often quarreled, and about a month before the shooting, he had chased her down the Horn Switch railroad tracks and given her two black eyes. Officer Cliff Dawson heard her shouting "Help! Murder! Police!" and pursued them. But seeing him approach, both stopped and Lottie refused to file charges.
Lottie admitted shooting Doc, but insisted it was in self-defense. During a cell interview she told a Review reporter "Doc" was a very jealous man, would not allow her to speak to anyone.
Saturday afternoon she had gone to a Chinese restaurant connected with Guthne's saloon, and was sitting there when a man came in and sat beside her. "In fun, I took his hat and placed it on my head."
"Doc" came in to find her, and ordered her to remove the hat or he would knock it off. She obeyed. After that, he continually censured me, and finally struck me several times about the face." Lottie said she remained at the restaurant the rest of the day and evening, and started home about midnight. "Doc' was on the same trolley, but she walked ahead and arrived home first.
He came in, she related, and started "chewing the rag again." As she prepared for bed, he struck her on the back of the neck. She jumped away and declared, "If I were a man, you would not dare to strike me in that manner. I would fix you."
That seemed to anger him "beyond control," she said, and he rushed toward a shelf behind her -- apparently to get a revolver, she told the reporter. "I was afraid he would kill me, and I grabbed the gun before he got to it. I turned as quickly as I could and pulled the trigger."
"Charles did not utter a word," she said, but reeled back and fell to the floor. "I did not know I had killed him, but felt sure I had shot him."
She said she ran to a neighbors home and telephoned Dr. W. A. Hobbs. "I am so sorry I killed him. Neither of us had been drinking. We quit about a month ago. If he had got to that gun first, my troubles would be all over now."
Police were called by the victim's foster father, a barber on W. Market St. (now Dresden), who had encountered Lottie as she was going to the neighbor.
Officers Wood and Bryan, at Central Fire Station, and Patrolman Henry Aufderheide went to the scene and found a shaken and weak-kneed Lottie outside. One of the men went inside to get the gun and inspect the 12-by-12 foot room where the victim lay. Then two of them escorted Lottie to the City Jail.
Coroner D. J. Jones of Lisbon the next morning held an inquest at the Howard home, ruling the victim had been fatally shot with a revolver in the hands of Lottie. In Jones' postmortem he reported the bullet had entered the victim's head on the left side, through a small portion of the ear, and into the brain.
Apparently realizing Lottie had the gun pointed at him, "Doc" had turned away, probably to flee, and his left side was facing her. When struck, his body fell upon the bottom of the bed with force, breaking the caster, then slipped to the floor.
LOTTIE WAS NO stranger to gunfire or the police. About five years prior, she and another girl were in the company of two young men, one from the city and the other from Bellaire, and all had been drinking. The latter shot the local resident in the stomach. Lottie was held as a witness, and subsequently given a warning.
A preliminary was held before Mayor W. A. Weaver who bound Lottie over the Grand Jury on a charge of first degree murder. She was nicely dressed in a gray skirt and jacket with a black straw hat and blue veil.
A key witness was Mrs. Howard who would not acknowledge "Doc" and Lottie had unlawfully lived together, an important point to the defense who wanted to prove she knew the room was used for immoral purposes.
Mrs. Howard testified she had rented the room to the two for $1.50 a week each, and insisted Charles had slept on a cot in another room. The elder Howard said he did not know the two shared the room.
Officer Woods testified Lottie told him on the way to jail she had tried to leave "Doc" but couldn't. Woods also said she related that she had grabbed the weapon and shutting her eyes, pulled the trigger.
Lothe was taken to the County Jail at Lisbon, and The Review speculated on her fate. The spats and altercations of the two and her being struck gave weight to a possible second degree murder, with the claim of self-defense.
The reporters comment went on: "The worst fact with which the defendant's attorney will have to struggle is the undented truth that she was living with a man not of her own race. Such women are generally looked down upon by all people and especially by the respectable element of both races."
Services for "Doc," conducted at the Howard home by the Rev. John H. Mason, were "largely attended." The funeral expenses were expected to be paid by the county, but a subscription was raised to provide flowers for the casket and additional cabs. A half-sister, Miss Mary Winn of Pittsburgh, read of the death in the newspaper and attended.
The Review reported the slayer "spent last night in a restless manner. She slept some, but not until after midnight. Her sleep was broken by wild dreams. She talked almost constantly, but her words could not be understood."
"The poor creature is suffering intensely, and is practically alone. Public sentiment is strongly against her, the fact being lost sight of that the circumstances which led up to her present state might have thrown many another person, now decent, into a dilemma just as bad."
The newspaper story referred to her being left motherless, "thrown among the dissolute and debased characters of Smoky Row where she met no people of her own sex whose influence would tend to lead her into the paths of virtue and honor.
"To the persons who stop and think, the woman is an object of pity. She is down to the lowest depths of degradation. . . she is a self-acknowledged murderess with other sins on her soul. She could have no worst crime against her, but she might not have been so bad had she better home training"
The September Grand Jury, for the first time -- and last time -- in county history returned three murder indictments -- a first degree against William Dechant who shot his wife, and second degree murder against Joseph Gismonti who shot a fellow Italian Horazio Giafratto in Wellsville and Lottie.
The panel also posted a remarkable account of activity -- in session 15 days, hearing 382 witnesses and returning 195 true bills out of 227 cases.
LOTTIE REMAINED calm and confident in Cell No. I in the County Jail -- and apparently repentant. In October she summoned the Rev. A. A. Brown of the Methodist Episcopal Church, After his visit he told reporters she regretted her past life.
Lottie herself explained to a reporter who interviewed her the following month she "didn't know what it meant to lead a life of shame" until she talked to the minister. She vowed to lead a better life when she "got out of here. I have been weaned away from cigarettes, booze and bad companions. I will make an endeavor to lead a Christian life."
In a cell next to her was 11-year-old Johnnie Hulmes of East Liverpool who had been jailed for seven weeks for -- the reporter noted -- not attending school. Young Johnnie cried often, the newsman wrote, because his father failed a promise to come and get him.
This seemingly harsh treatment brought a response from the authorities, and Johnnie was taken before a judge who considered sending him to the Boys Industrial School -- for stealing $5 from Annie Cassidy of Cadmus St. while he was staying with her
The judge, declaring the father, Absalom Hulmes, was unfit to care for the boy, instead sent him to the Fairmont Children's Home.
Lottie Skiles went on trial Dec. 5 before Judge Hole at Lisbon, the Prosecution declaring she had deliberately shot her lover, the defense contending she acted to defend herself and feared for her own life.
The Prosecution in opening said she and "Doc" had been sweethearts for two years, that she had a room over Guthrie's saloon, and later a room on Ogden St. where they lived together before moving to the Howards.
The defense noted the revolver belonged to "Doc," and he had threatened and struck her on many occasions. She was fearful, it was claimed, and had grabbed the weapon, intending to throw it at him.
But, the argument was made, he grabbed her by the arm and waist, and during the tussle, the gun discharged. "She had no more intent of killing him than one of you jury has of committing homicide this evening."
Mrs. Howard testified she had seen Lottie point the gun at "Doc." But ex-Mayor John Burgess and Review reporter Horace W. Karr, who visited the home the day after the slaying, testified otherwise. Mrs. Howard could not have seen Lottie from the kitchen doorway, the two men said, adding that Mrs. Howard conceded to them later that all she had witnessed was the flash of the gun.
The defense also argued that if Lottie climbed onto a rocking chair, as claimed, she could not have held her balance to accurately aim and fire the revolver.
Lottie kept her composure for the most part, but broke down and wept when Mrs. Howard was on the stand.
Various other witnesses told the jury of the quarrels and fights of the couple, including one at a picnic of Black people at Rock Springs Park. One woman reported Lottie firing a gun at "Doc" to scare him in their room on Ogden St.
THE DEFENDANT testifed herself on Dec. 7, describing her sad childhood and sordid lifestyle, and of meeting "Doc" when she had a room at Guthrie's.
She said she had supported herself since her mother died, and at the age of 12 had been 'betrayed" in East Liverpool by a man of 30. She went to Wheeling, then returned, worked in a restaurant, then in private homes and at one time in the Thomas doorknob factory.
Lottie met "Doc" when he was a morning bartender at Robert Dorsey's saloon where she occasionally dropped in for a drink. She went in once when she was sick, and he offered to "fix' her something. She had four or five drinks, and when she came to, was 'very dizzy" and in an upstairs room with him.
Lottie denied she had ever shot at him before, and declared she was afraid he would beat her the night the two returned from Guthne's on the trolley.
She also explained that the curtains at the kitchen doorway would have prevented Mrs. Howard from seeing into the room or her firing the gun.
After deliberating more than eight hours, the jury at am. on Saturday, Dec. 10, returned a verdict of acquittal. The panel was unanimous on its first ballot that Lottie was not guilty of second degree murder. The decision centered on innocence or manslaughter, five members holding out for several votes for the latter. Finally, full agreement was reached, and the verdict announced.
Lottie broke into tears when she learned she was free. She personally thanked each juror before they left the courtroom. She and her attorneys went to the Commercial Hotel for breakfast and then she retired, leaving instructions not to be disturbed before noon.
Lottie told a reporter she was "awfully glad to be out of jail. I prayed that I might not be sent to prison and have a chance to do what's right. I have promised God and man not to return to the old life I was leading."
She also vowed never to return to East Liverpool again. "My lawyers and each juror advised me not to," she said.
15-Cent Robbery
John Smith
Two Black men were linked to the apparent murder-robbery of a Wellsville mill worker along the railroad tracks near the Thompson pottery around 1906.
John Smith was unmercifully beaten then, either dead or unconscious, was thrown into the Ohio River.
Authorities believed the killers got only 15 cents. Suspects were Ferry Ormes and 0rries Harvey. Ormes fled the city and remained at large. Harvey was sentenced on a minor charge and served two or three years in the penitentiary.
Orrries, whom officials later reported had confessed, was still being sought in 1911 when police converged on the Dry Run area after receiving a tip.
It was reported he had traveled from Pittsburgh to attend a brother's funeral early in February. Officers checked the homes of his family and a brother-in-law without success.
Husband Loses Life
Alonzo S. Kidder
A sidewalk dispute between two former East End friends, turned hostile by the separation of one man's wife, ended in the estranged husband's death in 1907.
Alonzo S. Kidder, 44, of Fredencktown was shot on Pennsylvania Ave. near Maryland Ave. opposite Columbian Park shortly after noon Oct. 26.
He and J. 0. Bart Gilkinson of Palissey St. had just walked past George Estep's grocery store when Gilkinson drew a gun and fired at the other man.
Frank Andrews, young son of Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Andrews of Pennsylvania Ave., and the family had just finished lunch when he heard a shot. He looked out to see the pair facing each other, Kidder with his left arm raised as if to ward off a blow.
Andrews said Gilkinson fired again, one or twice. Then he walked away as Kidder lurched toward the front of the grocery where he fell. Isham Logan, standing in front of the store, went to his side and heard him say, 'That son of a bitch shot me."
One of the bullets had hit his heart, and Kidder died quickly. Grocer Estep came out with a blanket and covered the body. Gilkinson walked home, where he was later arrested by Patrolman Jay Fisher.
Kidder's corpse was taken by the police patrol to the home of his brother, Charles, who operated a grocery store on Island Ave. Kidder, employed at a saw mill, had lived with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Kidder of Fredericktown, while his wife resided in the East End with her son, Earl, about 17. She was at work at a Klondike pottery at the time of the shooting.
MRS. KIDDER, an attractive woman younger than her husband, said she had not seen him since February. Some believed that she and Gilkinson were having an affair, but she denied this to a Review reporter.
"At no time has there been any intimacy between Gilkinson and me, and Mrs. Gilkinson and myself are the best of friends. In fact, she called me up at the pottery and informed me of her husband's deed and arrest. She was unaware of his death, and thought him only seriously hurt."
Mrs. Kidder said of the killing, "It is a horrible thing, but the trouble I'm sure is over some money Mr. Kidder owed Mr. Gilkinson." She said Alonzo had gone camping across the river two years before with some companions, and purchased liquor from Gilkinson who operated a saloon and for which he never paid.
The new widow said she had been unable to get along with her husband, that he refused to work and provide for her. The two men had apparently been good friends, but since the separation from his wife, bad blood had existed between them, Kidder blaming Gilkirison for his marital troubles.
Gilkinson worked for a barber on Mulberry St., and resided on Palissey St. with his wife and son and daughter.
He had come to East Liverpool 18 years before from Kenova, W. Va. He worked about the city for some time as a teamster, then for contractor John McLaughlin, becoming a foreman of laborers.
With Robert Sodaker he formed a partnership running a saloon in Klondike. They sold that and ran a Pennsylvania Ave. bar. Gilkinson sold out to the other, remaining as a bartender until the city became "dry." He then was employed at Caton's barbershop.
VARIOUS WITNESSES testifed at an inquest held by Coroner Dr. D. J. Jones, all saying that three shots were fired, although no examination was made of the body at the site, it taken directly to the brother's home.
Later Drs. S. W. Hemphill and F. F. Davis examined the body, finding two bullets had entered the left breast, one piercing the heart, the other lodging near the left shoulder. Coroner Jones found two other holes in the left side, one above the hip and the other near the shoulder.
The number of bullets fired was not officially noted, although .38 caliber shells were found and picked up by a lumber yard worker and given to Officer Fisher. Police also searched the area, but did not find the murder weapon.
Dr. Jones ruled Kidder came to his death from bullets discharged from a revolver in the hands of Bart Gilkinson. At a subsquent preliminary hearing before Mayor W. A. Blake, Gilkinson was held for the Grand Jury for murder.
He was subsequently was sentenced to 12 years in the Ohio Penitentiary for manslaughter.
In February 1912 Bart Gilkinson was granted parole.
William Brow
n
A city livery stable worker was fatally wounded while reportedly trying to halt a holdup at a Black saloon on 2nd St. in 1906.
William Brown, 42, was shot in the stomach by Carl Lee, 23, of Wellsville at a tavern owned by Robert Liggons Feb. . 16 around 10 p.m.
Two police officers were on their way to the scene when they met Lee who told them he was the man they were after, and gave them the .32 caliber revolver he said he used in self defense.
Other officers went to the saloon and obtained the names of several witnesses who Prosecuting Atty. M. J. McGarry advised to be jailed.
Brown was taken to his shanty behind the saloon, a wound in the left side into the abdomen, remaining conscious and describing the incident. He was attended by Dr. W. J. Taylor, and later taken to Dr. Taylor's hospital where he died late the next afternoon.
The victim said he saw Lee and Charles Armstead follow Robert C. Wilson, a Clarkson area farmer, to the rear of the saloon. One grabbed Wilson around the neck while the other started to go through his pockets.
Brown said he drew his gun and warned the pair to let Wilson go. He said he even tried to use the weapon but it didn't fire. He returned to the bar, and put the gun away.
Then, he claimed Armstead grabbed a bottle and threw it at him. As he dodged, one or the other shot him -- he did not identify the shooter.
Lee declared he fired in self defense, 'l saw it was either him or me, so I just pulled my gun and shot." He denied the robbery accusation.
Wilson appeared at Mayor Blake's office the following morning, and confirmed Brown's story. At a hearing before the Mayor later, several witnesses said self defense was not an issue.
Will Stribling, a stranger in the saloon waiting for a train, said Brown was not arguing with Lee, but was talking with Armstead about the alleged holdup bid. The latter was throwing a bottle when Lee, some distance from both, fired his revolver.
Testimony showed Brown was holding a gun, threatening to shoot Armstead if he did not drop the bottle.
A newspaper report described Brown as having a good reputation, along with "a born hatred for dishonest colored men." He did porter work, and was employed by liveryman John Rinehart.
Lee, son of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Lee of Clark Ave., Wellsville, was unemployed. His only previous arrest was for being in a gambling room.
Tough Guy Tumbles
Clark Hinemah
The seamy side of Ceramic City early in the Twentieth Century lay at the root of the deaths of a notorious couple of those times.
Clark Hineman was a burly boss in the soiled world of saloons, gambling and prostitution dominating the disreputable "Smoky Row area of Second St., the town's business section before it moved uphill to The Diamond and Fifth St.
Potteries were flourishing, the city's mercantile center was an area hub for shoppers, and thirsty residents of the area's "dry" towns flocked to the many bars Intoxication, assault, fighting and other offenses were rampant.
During the period 1890-1910 crime and vice were serious problems, and the five- man police force struggled to keep order. In 1906 the city counted some 1,600 arrests, an average four a day, more than half for drunkenness and disorderly conduct.
Prostitution grew. Women were arrested in raids at such places as the Green Goose, the White Swan and Saints Rest.
As part of a nationwide reform movement, local "Blue Laws" were adopted, and liquor prohibition measures were placed on ballots, losing in 1900 but winning in 1907.
The Review in 1904 helped lead efforts to clean up the city, and published a series of articles focusing on the places where harlots, gamblers and cheats operated, listing names and other details.
Hineman managed the Arlington, a lower Broadway "dive" operated by Maud Smith and one of the newspaper's targets. He had come to East Liverpool a few years before.
A SALOON OCCUPIED the first floor of the establishment The Review labeled "a cancer spot in East Liverpool," with rooms upstairs where Hineman and Maud lived.
Late on the afternoon of July 14, Hineman, about 28, entered The Review office on Washington St., unrecognized by the few employees.
He saw Louis Brush, the publisher, standing by the door of the empty editorial room, the staff having left as day's work was over. Brush, a native of Salem, had purchased the former News-Review in 1901.
"Is this Mr. Brush?" Hineman demanded. The publisher replied he was. 1 guess you don't know me," the visitor said. Brush admitted he didn't. "Well, take that you --- -- - --- the 180-pound Hineman said, raising his arm and hitting Brush under the left eye, knocking the smaller man down. Hineman then kicked him on the left forearm.
Brush, realizing he faced further violence, got up and headed into the newsroom to call police. Hineman thought he was after a weapon, and walked backward toward the front entrance with his hand on his hip pocket. Two Review office staffers thought he was feeling for a gun.
Meanwhile, Maud Smith, who had accompanied Hineman to the office but had been standing in the nearby alley, came inside. With her were Lawrence Freeman and another man.
The Review account of this incident described Freeman as a self-confessed "dope fiend" who had stolen $300 from the manager of the Penn Stock Exchange a few months before.
Maud, apparently unaware of the assault, asked for Mr. Brush. Told he was not in, she went outside and stood in the alley for a while. The two with her remained in the alley until 7 p.m.
After leaving The Review, Hineman walked to City Hall to see Mayor W. A. Weaver. The latter was not in, so Hineman went to Squire Rose's office and said he wished to plead guilty to assaulting Brush. The Squire accepted the plea, fining him $11 and costs.
Brush meanwhile had filed an assault charge with Mayor Weaver, and Hineman was taken before the Mayor who placed him under $100 bond for a later hearing.
But Hineman's attorney, W. R. Hill, visited the Mayor and asked for an immediate hearing. Weaver agreed -- without notifying Brush or any potential witnesses.
The Mayor fined Hineman $10 and costs -- which The Review condemned in print as too lenient for the "cowardly attack," and published comments from leading citizens who declared the penalty insufficient.
John J. Punnton said Hinemàn's act was more than an assault on an individual; "it was a strike at the liberty of the press." David Boyce declared, "The punishment was not commensurate with the offense." N. G. Macrum believed it "certainly a very small fine. (It) merited a penalty of not less than $100 and the jail sentence."
W. L. Smith said it "places a premium on crime. It looks to me like the gang had a stand in with the Mayor."
One differing opinion was printed. J. ft Dawson of the public safety board opined "The Evening Review provoked the assault to a certain extent, and I think the penalty is sufficient."
REVIEW OFFICIALS were concerned that further troubles loomed. "Believing Hineman and Maud Smith to be capable of resorting to any cowardly act," they moved to place them under peace bond.
Papers issued by Squire H. P. McCarron were served the pair the next morning. Facing five separate charges, the two were held by the Squire for a later hearing under $2,500 bond. The money was posted by Joe Turnbull who a few months before provided bond when Hineman was charged with assault and battery and held to the Grand Jury for keeping a disorderly house.
The Review also reported Hineman as a "non-unionist. That is enough to turn... this strongly union community against him." He had been fined less than two years previous for working contrary to the rules of the structural iron workers.
Of Maud Smith, the newspaper said, "A description of (her) past character would not be fit for the public to read. She has sunk to the lowest depths of degradation, and there is nothing too low to write about her. "She has been connected with houses of ill fame for many years, and is to be scorned by every person who has the least vestige of respect for himself."
Maud's sister, Anna Scroggs, was the proprietress of the "Green Goose," and had been charged that year with keeping a disorderly house. Maud had put up the $25 bond.
Within two weeks, Hineman and Maud were again in trouble -- this time on the receiving end. Some excursionists from Washington, Pa., were in the saloon, and a fight broke out. Maud was struck in the mouth and nose, and Hineman was laid out with a blow to his head by one of the "half-jagged" guests.
The fray erupted, it was said, after one of the excursionists dropped his liquor glass, and he paid the barkeep ten cents for the loss. Maud was standing at the end of the bar, and remarked that the man should be more careful.
Her language and attitude irritated the visitor who assumed she was a loiterer, and asked what business it was of hers how many glasses he broke.
Maud rose to the occasion, responding sharply. He replied with a back-handed slap in the mouth. Hineman, out front, heard the noise of the confusion and rushed to the bar. He had passed through the doorway when another of the strangers slammed him on the side of the head with a chair.
Hineman was able to smash the fellow in the eye, knocking him down and into unconsciousness. Some feared he was dead, but he was doused with a hose and came to, ending the uproar as the visitors left.
The Review noted Hineman and Maud bore the evidence of the incident, Maud's mouth displaying results of a collision with something "besides her favorite stimulant."
The September Grand Jury indicted Hineman and Maud jointly for keeping a disorderly house and "a place where men and women congregated for purposes of prostitution and lewdness" from July 1903 to April 1904.
THEIR TRIAL WAS delayed because Maud claimed she was too ill to appear, so a separate trial was set for Hineman in November. Probate Judge J. B. Martin at Lisbon rejected moves by Atty. Hill to have it dismissed or continued.
The Prosecution argued a jury was empaneled and witnesses subpoenaed, and a deposition could be taken from the ailing Maud whose testimony was, according to Hill, vital to the case. The waiting witnesses included two Steubenville women who were ready to report on their working for Maud and Hineman in East Liverpool.
When the trial resumed after lunch, Hineman had changed his mind, and pleaded guilty to the charge. Judge Martin fined him $200 and costs.
The crackdown on liquor offenses continued, and saloon keepers were in and out of court. The Clark-Maud act appeared in Mayor W. A. Weaver's court Oct. 11, Hineman charged with running a disorderly house, Smith with disorderly conduct.
Garfield Dillon claimed he had been "touched" in a $19 theft while upstairs at the Arlington with a girl -- not unlike a similar incident at the place a year before. Officers McDermott and Turnbull testified they tried to search the rooms for the woman suspect, but Maud locked all the doors.
Mayor Weaver dismissed the charge against Hineman, citing lack of sufficient evidence. Maud, however, pleaded guilty and was fined $50 and costs.
Hineman among those haled before Mayor W. F. Blake in July 1907 after two state undercover agents visited taverns in town. An agent testified he had been in Hineman's Arlington bar on a Sunday morning and purchased two beers from the proprietor. Hine- man was fined $50 and costs for the illegal Sabbath service.
The town's liquor dispensers were especially irritated at the two agents, one having passed himself off as a "wet' supporter in the recent election, standing on Market St. and handing out sample ballots. Local police had to guard the pair and escort them safely out of town.
That election had spelled the end of alcohol sales in East Liverpool, the result of a reform movement which turned the city into a "dry" community for some time.
The balloting had been held in May 1907 on the prohibition issue that had been turned down in 1900 and 1903. Reaction against the continuing crime and violence linked to whisky had resulted in.a petition for the election signed by 1,792 citizens.
This time the "drys" won by a margin of 286 votes, and the closing of the city's 80 some saloons was set for July 13. A challenge to the vote outcome was filed in Common Pleas Court, but Judge Martin ruled the results were proper.
Tavern owners prepared for "last call." Prices plummeted, patrons helped consume on site the soon-to-be illegal stock, deliveries sped to private homes, and there was general farewell toasting to alcohol.
Clark Hineman not only came to the end of his tavern career, he was about to lose his life. About 1 am. the following morning, he became involved in a brawl at the foot of Broadway. Apparently four men had become caught up in an argument, and Hineman for some reason joined the fight.
involved were Frank Heckathom, a well known potter and baseball player; Hazel Mercer who operated a 6th St. photo studio: Ben Davidson and Bill Zoellers, a bartender. All had left the scene before police arrived.
ACCORDING TO witnesses and some of those in the melee, Heckathom and Mercer, were arguing with Davidson over a gasoline engine. The first two had bought an engine, and taken it to Davidson for repair.
He fixed it, but they decided they didn't want it, and told Davidson to sell. He did so, but didn't settle with the others. When they encountered him on Second St. that morning, they pressed him about the money.
Davidson got angry. Zoellers was passing by, and Mercer asked for his opinion. He sided with Davidson. Heckathom expressed his own opinion about Zoellers -- who hit him.
Mercer said he tried to separate the two, but others jumped in, including Hineman. Someone hit Hineman in the face, and he punched that person in the face, opening a cut over his eye.
A friend of the other man leaped on Hineman's back, and as he tried to shake him off, the other man pulled a gun, shoved up against Hineman and pulled the trigger. The bullet entered his abdomen and stomach.
Harry Sparks asked him if he were hurt. Hineman said he felt weak, and was assisted to his nearby restaurant. He had first thought he was hit in the leg, but when he loosened his trousers he saw the blood on the front of his shirt.
Hineman grew weaker, and asked to be taken to City Hospital. A police ambulance came and transported him there, and Dr. W. A. Hobbs, Dr. Frank Harrison, Dr. J. Howard Davis and Dr. W. R. Clark arrived to treat him.
They decided to open the wound and probe for the bullet. Hineman remained conscious until the anesthetic. The surgery was completed, but the doctors held little hope for survival, noting the intestines had also been punctured, posing a serious infection threat.
Mercer and Heckathorn were quickly arrested, found eating in a Second St. restaurant. Mercer had a badly discolored right eye. Both were jailed, denying the shooting.
Police began looking for Lawrence Freeman, a telegraph operator and Hineman friend, who some said knew who could identify the gunman. Freeman, it was said, had been sworn to secrecy after the shooting by Hineman who, if he lived, wanted to kill the man himself.
But, Rifleman reportedly told Freeman, "If I go up on the hilt, I want you to do the job for me."
Hineman's condition declined, he was in pain and his strength was ebbing. His parents had been summoned from Moundsville to visit him, and he was too weak to speak above a whisper. The following day, however, he brightened and asked for his attorney, Richard Thompson, to make out a will. He seemed relieved after that task, and turned to Thompson, saying, 'There's something important to tell you." It seemed as if he were ready to identify his assailant.
Then he paused, thought for a minute, and said, "No, I guess I'll not tell you. If it is necessary, I'll tell the nurse."
Thompson, a partner of Atty. J. H. Brookes who represented Mercer and Heckathorn, told reporters he did not press Hineman "on that matter."
Thompson went on to describe Hineman as a "quiet man, he does not drink to excess or use profanity." The lawyer added his client was married to Maud Smith but lived apart and did not permit her to enter his sleeping quarters. "But he sees she does not lack for any personal comfort."
ATTY. THOMPSON said Hineman had a powerful physique, exercised systematically and "took a cold plunge every day."
Police indicated the shooting suspect had left town, identifying him as Herbert Heckathom, brother of Frank. It wasreported he had a gun the night of the fight and was in the thick of the fray.
It was also said Officer Dawson had told the Mayor there was insufficient evidence to convict Mercer or Frank Heckathom. Maud Smith was allowed to visit the jailed pair. Afterward she said she advised Chief Wyman the two were innocent.
They told a straightforward story," she explained. "I told them if they had shot in self- defense, I would not object to their being released. For! know Mr. Hineman has the reputation of being a vicious man when his temper is aroused. . . I would not blame any man for defending himself."
Maud rejected the claim by Freeman that Clark wanted his assailant killed, explaining someone wanted to get a gun while he waited for the ambulance, and he forbid it.
There was a report Hineman would tell his brother the next day who shot him. Meanwhile, he was receiving visitors, and nurses fielded some 200 telephone calls inquiring about him.
His condition worsened, more surgery was required, but he died at 5 p.m. July 23. Within an hour, Herb Heckathom was arrested and jailed. Charged with manslaughter, Heckathorn was held for the Grand Jury by Mayor A. C. Roe under $3,000 bond.
Coroner D. J. Jones came to town for a post mortem and inquest. Prosecutor McGarry insisted the fatal bullet be secured, and two hours were spent probing through the site of the two operations. Finally the victim's body was fully opened, and the bullet found in the groin.
At the inquest, Martin D. Willis, one of several witnesses, made a startling statement,"I saw Herb Heckathorn fire the shot that killed Clark Hineman."
Willis, 23, a kilndrawer, had been held in jail as the most important witness for the Prosecution. He said he had worked with Herb Heckathorn at the Globe pottery, and was sure of his identity.
Willis declared he was within a few feet of the killer, saw the shot fired from a fickle- plated gun, and Herb was the man. Willis said he himself was not intoxicated, "I don't get drunk."
Also jailed as a key witness was Thomas Walker of Akron, a Black man who was sitting on the steps of a barbershop on lower Broadway when the fight erupted. He was close to Hineman when the shot was fired, and he corroborated Willis' account.
Harry Sparks testified he was in the fight, and saw Herb Heckathom take a blue steel gun from his hip pocket and put in his coat. The man who fired the shot wore a dark suit and dark hat, Sparks said, but he could not recognize him.
Sparks said he was with Hineman when he died, stating he was certain Hineman knew who fired the shot but did not tell.
With Herb charged in the death, brother Frank and Hazel Mercer were taken before Mayor Roe on a charge of disorderly conduct for which their lawyer Jason Brooks pled them guilty. Both were fined $6 each and released.
BUT POLICE INDICATED Hinemann's death might never be solved. They pointed to the conflicting testimony of witnesses, and said others with key information would not voluntarily testify. Wills' statement was major evidence, but probably not sufficient by itself to convict.
Hinernan's body was shipped to Greene County, Pa., his birthplace, accompanied by his father Thomas, brother George, Maud Smith and friends.
The will he made out with Atty. Thompson before his death was filed in Probate Court a few weeks later. He left $500 each to his father and brother and $250 to a sister in St. Mary's, W. Va.
The rest of the estate and personal property were assigned to Dr. Howard Davis, to be held in trust for Maud Smith, whose real name was Mane Bernard. Dr. Davis was periodically to pay out whatever money necessary to properly provide Maud with a "suitable home, clothing, pleasures and other necessities."
"If Maud Smith ever becomes completely cured of the drug habit she now has," the will read, all the property with the trustee was to be turned over to Maud.
She continued to have troubles with the law. In October Maud was in Mayor's court to answer a claim by Mrs. Elizabeth Davis of Steubenville that Maud had taken her seven pair of curtains. Police with a search warrant found such curtains in her quarters, but she said, "I believe I bought them." She posted bond.
The October Grand Jury considered the charge against Herb. Heckathorn, but issued no indictment, saying evidence presented was vague and insufficient.
Clark Hineman's killer, whoever he was, remained free.
The city's "dry" election decision was followed by a year of endless arrests for liquor violations and confiscation of large amounts of illegal whisky, much of it dumped into sewers.
Alcohol could still be bought in town or elsewhere and even obtained from "booze boats" anchored in the Ohio River.
The Pennsylvania Railroad provided special transportation ("Booze Trains") from East Liverpool and Wellsville -- also dry" -- to Steubenville and Toronto and back. Local police stood guard and made some arrests for rowdyism.
Across the river plans were made for obtaining a West Virginia charter for a social and athletic club which would be allowed to traffic in alcohol. Many city and Wellsville people contributed to the $5,000 capitalization with an eye for a building on Babb's Island.
Arrests in East Liverpool for drunkenness declined from 352 to 190 in 1908, but went up to 294 the next year and then rose to more than pre-prohibition. Thirsty thieves even got into the liquor confiscated in arrests and stored in the police headquarters. Chief Wyman and a special committee investigated, closely eyeing the police themselves. One officer admitted he had about a half pint one night when he was ill and needed medication.
The investigation closed without naming any culprits.
By 1908 concerns about the effectiveness of the liquor ban peaked. Some pottery manufacturers signed petitions terming prohibition a detriment to the community's prosperity and its ceramic workers, harmful to hotel owners and jobbers who purchased dinnerware.
Even The Review editorialized that the experiment had failed, and the law unenforceable. In the subsequent election on the issue, the city voted "wet" by a large majority.
But the rest of Columbiana County went 'dry" and the East Liverpool's bars remained closed until 1911 when the law was repealed in the county by a slight margin.
ALTHOUGH DEAD FOR four years, Clark Hineman figured in the election results. The weak controls on liquor sales during prohibition were cited by "wet" proponents, and full page newspaper ads were bought citing Hirteman's sad life and his dying regrets.
A letter was featured from a minister who related the saloon bully's final hours. Dr. T. W. Lane, quoting "the sinner" who asked to see him, said Hineman declared he had been raised right.
"My mother was a Christian woman, and she taught me to pray. I did not like the business I was in, but having gone wrong and into the business, there seemed no way to get out.
"I did not enjoy it, and often after everybody was gone from the place, and I had closed up, I have kneeled down there and prayed."
The minister wrote he told Hineman he was headed for the operating table, and it was probable he "would never come from that table alive. The only thing for you to do now is to thoroughly repent of your sins. . . and throw yourself on the infinte mercy of God."
"He replied with great earnestness and with a new light in his eyes, 1 will do that, Mr. Lane, I will do that."
During that period, however, liquor was available illegally in the city or legally elsewhere. And Ben Davidson and Bill Zoelters continued to lead interesting lives in connection with those times.
In April 1909 they were involved in a confrontation with a Wellsville physician who shot both men near a "booze boat" anchored in the river near Silver Switch.
The incident was linked to the "dry" versus 'wet", and one newspaper indicated that members of the reform-minded "Good Citizens League" were taking down names of those who patronized the floating bar.
The boat's operator, Frank Geisse, reportedly had a fight with E. B. Renouf of the League, beating him up, bloodying his mouth and breaking his false teeth.
Not long after this altercation, Dr. Hamlin Barnes of Wellsville was walking home along the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks from a summer cottage nearby, and came upon the scene.
The doctor subsequently told police that he was accosted by Geisse, Davidson, Zoellers and other men and women. They became abusive, he said, and he pulled out a gun and continued down the tracks. Someone threw a stone, and Zoeflers brought out a gun and fired.
Dr. Barnes stated he then shot at Zoellers who dropped his weapon. Davidson, the doctor said, picked up the gun and began firing at him from behind a telephone pole. The doctor sprang behind another pole and shot at Davidson.
The doctor was apparently the better marksman. He was unharmed, but Zoellers suffered a flesh wound of the hip, and Davidson a wound through the front of the neck, the bullet lodging against his spine.
Davidson was taken to City Hospital where he showed improvement after a few days. Dr. Barnes posted a $1000 bond for a hearing in Wellsville Mayor's Court.
Davidson, a press report indicated, had several months before been in the skiff from which Ella Davidson committed suicide, jumping into the river opposite Newell.
Dr. Barnes was not a man to accept affront easily. A few days after he was elected Mayor of Wellsville in 1915, he encountered on Main St. Francis Carruthers, editor of the Wellsville Enterprise, with whom he had previous differences.
An argument developed, the word "Liar" heard, and the physician struck the other man in the face. Dr. Barnes went to a justice to plead guilty to assault, and was fined $1. But the dissatisfied editor took the case to another court, and further legal complications followed for several weeks.
Maud Smith
Even her last days on earth found Maud Smith still caught up in a sad and shady life which ended violently in suspicion of murder.
By June 1909 she was residing in Smith's Ferry, held by Beaver County authorities for conducting a house of ill repute in the hamlet.
One account had her facing commitment to the Workhouse, but friends interceded, declaring her addicted to drugs. Beaver County Judge Halt reportedly suspended her sentence, but ordered her to the White Sanitarium in Pittsburgh's East End until cured.
Another version placed her in the Beaver County Jail where after a brief stay, she feigned illness, and on the promise to leave the county was released. She then took the cure for a cocaine and morphine habit, and returned to Beaver to reside with a sister, Mrs. Anna McElroy of Navigation St.
During her time in Smith's Ferry she had become acquainted with various men there and at Midland, and was known to have visited at the "shanty" of a "Mac" McDonald in "Hunkeytown," a section of shacks where foreign-born workers lived.
On Sunday Nov. 14, 1909, she was seen in Midland in the company of Reed McFall of Smith's Ferry
-About 9 that evening a westbound Steubenville & East Liverpool Traction Co. trolley rounded a curve at the east end of the borough. The cars' electric head light had become defective, and the tracks ahead were illuminated only by a common oil lamp.
Motorman Green and Conductor J. W. Weiss did not see any object on the rails, but heard a grinding noise, and the air brakes were applied to halt the trolley. They found the body of a woman, whose left leg was severed above the ankle and whose head had suffered a severe laceration covered neatly by a "fascinator," a light head scarf.
Clutched In her hand was a white handkerchief. Her white silk shirtwaist seemed clean and fresh, and her face bore no scratches or dirt. The ground around it, witnesses said, showed signs of a struggle.
Tentative identification indicate the victim was Maud Smith, formerly of East Liverpool.
Pennsylvania law prohibited moving a body unless by order of the Coroner. So bystanders kept watch for more than an hour before that official could be notified and the remains taken first to the Midland Police Station, then by special car to Beaver and an undertaker.
INVESTIGATORS SUGGESTED the victim either committed suicide or had succumbed to foul play, the latter theory supported in that there was no bleeding from the injuries, indicating the woman was already dead when hit by the trolley. A whiskey bottle and a large penknife were found nearby.
Confirmation of Maud as the victim was made the following morning by Albert Hineman who said he was a nephew.
Beaver County Detective D. C. Braden and Coroner J.M. Gormley interviewed witnesses and examined the site. Officials questioned McFall, about 35, single, who lived in Smith's Ferry with his parents. He apparently was unemployed, but had worked at the boiler shop of the Midland steel mill.
At Coroner Gormley's inquest Nov. 18 several witnesses testified, including McFall who verified he had been with Maud until about 6 p.m. He said he had been too drunk to remember anything about the evening. He identified the penknife as his, but insisted he could not recall anything else.
"Mac" McDonald said Maud had stolen a bottle of whiskey from him that night, and it was the one found at the scene.
Dr. Thomas McCloy of Midland testified the 5-inch laceration on Maud's head was not inflicted by a trolley wheel, but by some blunt instrument, about the size of a sledge hammer.
The jury ruled that Maud Smith Hineman had met death on the tracks between 6 and 9 p.m. "from some unknown cause." Beaver County District Attorney J. Blain McCoun said he was not satisified that the death was accidental, and would Investigate further.
Maud, meanwhile, had been laid to rest at Beaver through burial arrangements made by Dr. J. Howard Davis, administrator of Clark Hineman's estate.
The bizarre and violent saga of one of East Liverpool's most notorious couples was finally at an end, both of their deaths unexplained mysteries.
Young Mother Slain
Myrtle Raush
Mrs. Lemuel Raush, 28, was looking in on her ailing daughter at their Third St. home one spring afternoon in 1908 when a boarder confronted her and shot her pointblank in the head.
Charles Howard, 25, a finisher in a pottery, then turned around to find Mrs. John DeWoif, the victim's mother, had rushed upstairs at the Sound of the shot, and he angrily turned the gun on her, pulling the trigger.
But Mrs. DeWoIf dropped to her knees, and escaped death. Howard walked out of the house near Washington and to the City Hall police rooms down the Street.
"Well, I have done it," he told officers. "You better lock me up. I am under your care now." It was 2:30 p.m. March 31.
Mrs. Raush, 28, had died instantly, the bullet hitting her right cheek, then penetrating the brain. Powder bums marked her face.
She resided with her parents, and Howard had boarded with them for six months. He was married, but had separated from his wife.
MRS. DeWOLF said her daughter had entered upstairs bedroom to see if her sick child, Myrtle, 2, was still sleeping. When she heard the shot, Mrs. DeWoif rushed upstairs, and saw her daughter lying across foot of a couch, bleeding from the wound and eyes, ears and mouth.
Enraged at intrusion, Howard pushed the revolver into her face and pulled the trigger. But she sank to the floor, saving her life. Mrs. DeWoif said she didn't know why Charley would do such a thing 'unless he was crazy."
"He never manifested a vicious disposition. So far as I know, there was nothing between Howard and my daughter. No couple got along better than she and her husband."
Lemuel Rausch, working at the George Brunt porcelain plant, was summoned home. Sobbing and barely coherent, he demanded to see the murderer, frantic to vent his rage on the killer.
When police searched Howard, he was still carrying the Ivor-Johnson, and in his pockets had five 38. cal. cartridges, a gold watch and matches. His mental state was uncertain, and Dr. B. R. Parke of Wellsville was brought by defense to talk to Howard in the jail.
The suspect was bound over to April Grand Jury by Mayor Sam Crawford who, with Officer Cliff Dawson, conveyed him to the County Jail. He was indicted for first degree murder, and held in the Jail apparently without any lawyer assigned to defend him.
On Aug. 14, he was interviewed by reporters, and declared he was being advised by people in the spirit world. Tall, unkempt, the strain of confinement was apparent, and he had reportedly been giving jailers trouble.
It was discovered he had removed a wooden slat from his bed, and hidden it in the bedding. Jailers removed all the slats as precaution.
After supper Aug. 14, Howard tore the bedding into strips, stuffed them through the cell door and set them afire. An Italian prisoner, also in for murder, shouted an alarm, and the flames were quelled before causing any damage.
For punishment, Howard was ordered to sleep in the dungeon. When a turnkey came to take him downstairs, he struck him and tried to get away. But he was caught and handcuffed.
The four months of confinement may have caused him fear that he would be allowed to rot in jail without a trial. He didn't get one. Early in November he was judged insane by special commission at Lisbon.
It included Dr. H. C. Eyman of Massillon State Hospital along with Dr. Parke of Wellsville and Drs. Jones and Graham. Testimony showed he came from a family which was "mentally deranged." The doctors' decision went to Probate Judge Martin who placed him state custody.
Jealousy Brings Death
An attempted murder stemming from jealousy and ending in suicide took place on a downtown street later that year.
Margaret Lisk, 19, of 318W. Third St. was walking with her brother on the way to work at a pottery when she was shot by James Hollis White at Third and Washington St. Oct. 19.
White, 22, a native of Romney, W. Va., had been employed in local potteries, most recently as a batter-out and mold runner at the McNicol firm.
He and Miss Lisk had been keeping company for several months, but White had become jealous and bothersome. He reportedly made threats of what he would do if anyone would else would go out with her.
It was said he threatened to shoot her, and he was known to carry a gun. A month before, her brother-in-law informed White he must keep away from the Lisk home.
White then made no effort to visit the girl, but had been seen near the house the night before the shooting, and he apparently had decided to take action, since he went back to his boarding house and wrote a note found afterward.
Early the next morning, Margaret and her brother, W. C. Lisk, headed along Third St. toward the Harker pottery where they worked. White, waiting on the north corner of Washington and Third, stepped out, giving the brother a kind greeting and saying, 1 want to talk to you, Margaret."
The unsuspecting W.C. moved off to one side, and watched the pair converse briefly. Then she walked away and joined her brother. White pulled out a revolver, and, supporting his gun hand with the other, fired three times.
His first shot missed, and she began to run. The second bullet pierced her left coat sleeve and on through the brothers open coat. The third shot hit the fleshy part of her left arm, and she fell to the street.
As other pedestrians rushed to her aid, White ran down Washington St. chased by the brother and others. When the pursuers were about to seize him at the corner of Second St., White put the revolver to his head and pulled the trigger.
The bullet penetrated the brain, but he ran on some 60 feet before falling dead in front of John Rinehart's house, leaving a deep cut and bruises on his face.
Margaret was carried home by onlookers, including J. H. Simms, editor of The Tribune, and Dr. Hobbs arrived to treat the wound which was a clean cut through the flesh below the elbow.
In White's room was the note turned over to Mayor Samual Crawford. It read:
To my friends, if any:
I have killed my sweetheart forgoing and listening to her dam people. She is my friend. She said last Tuesday that instead of being my wife, which she said she would three weeks from today. I intend to get revenge if God gives me the power. She was in trouble four months ago and I stuck to her as a dead sweetheart. I told her if she went back on me I would kill her. She was gone back on me for her people. So goodbye to mother, sister, and brother.
James Hollis White
Jim White's troubles were not over.
Undertaker John Rinehart was in charge of his funeral, and went to White's apartment where he searched a trunk and found $59.59 which was applied to the burial expenses.
Friends of White, including John Grim, a former coffinmaker, said Rinehart had no authority to enter White's room, and Grim declared White's coffin should have cost only $8 or $10.
Rinehart learned of the complaints, and suggested Grim come to him to discuss the matter. Grim showed up, and an argument developed, ending in fisticuffs.
Grim alleged Rinehart made a move to hit him, and he retaliated. Rinehart, apparently the loser and sporting a badly discolored eye, filed an assault charge against Grim who was thrown out of the establishment, his hat crushed.
Grim, arrested at work at the Riverside Knob works, declared he would file a similar charge against Rinehart plus another of destruction of property.
CONTINUE TO Murder Will Out 4
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