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PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 19—()— Governor-elect George H Earle to day received from 30 labor leaders a letter insisting he name for secre tary of Labor and Industry in his cabinet “a legitimate representative of labor.” These five names were submitted John A. Philips, Harrisburg, presi dent of the State Federation of La- James McDevitt, president of the Allied Building Trades of Philadel phia; Patrick Fagan, president of the Pittsburgh Central Labor Union; Adolph Hirschberg, president of the Philadelphia Central Labor Un ion; John Kmetz, Nant'ooke, a United Mine Workers organizer. Signers of the letter included Thomas Kennedy, of Hazelton, lieu tenant-governor-elect and secretary treasurer of the United Mine Work ers. It was presented simultaneously to U. S. Senator-elect Joseph F. Guff ey, David L. Lawrence, Democratic state chairman and John B. Kelly, chairman of the Democratic city committee. Two Other Names In addition to the five names sub mtted, two other men have been mentioned for the office. They are Edward N. Jones, of Pittsburgh, state NRA compliance director, and Mar yin W. McCarty, of Wilkes-Barre, leg islative chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Jones is reported to have the support of Guf fey and Lawrence. Presentation of the letter climaxed a day of activity over the Labor sec retaryship. The letter was drafted at a meeting of city and state labor officials. After that meeting dispersed, Earle conferred with Kennedy and Mich ael J. Hartneady, of Hazelton, a dis trict president of the United Mine Workers, who is reported slated for Secretary of Mines and Mining. Earle tonight announced no addi tional appointments to his cabinet will be made until after Christmas. The governor-elect left for a short ‘rest at his hunting lodge near Cam ‘bridge, Maryland. Labor's Letter The letter to Earl e, was presented a committee headed by Thomas J. Etrodt, of the International Print en Pressmen, “a committee representing organ ized labor of the state of Pennsyl vania,” it said, “met in consulta in the office of the representa tive of the American Federation of Labor in Philadelphia, to reiterate the attitude of organized labor in Pennsylvania. The ments were voiced following sents “In vew of the extraordinary ser vice rendered by organized labor in behalf of the Democratic party, we are justified in the insistence that the department of Labor and Indus 7 be headed by a representative, legitimate labor “Pennsylvania labor was ever the instrument that forced adoption of legisation for protection of the working class. “Statements were made during the last campaign that the laws pertain ing to the department were never enforced. It is tim e, therefore that a true guardian, a sincere labor ex ecutive, be placed in the position in the interest not only of labor and in dustry, but the Democratic party as well. “épperefore, the undersigned insist these pledges be kept rerentative of labor approval , and that a rep who meets with this committee, repre senting organized labor, be appoint ed to the position Labor and Industry. On the committee the letter were Frank players and plasters, resenting bric of Secretary of ” which submitted Boden rep Frank Schlenzig, president of the Pennsylvania state journeymen Blumberg, painters Thomas Mallon, te McDevitt, restaurant P. Banaway, represen association of plumbers, Norman and decorators, tar trades, John workers, and F. Jing the Pitts burgh Central Labor Union, their hasty departure after Harris had been safely taken to Nashville, caught the eye of some of the crowd. Soon flames shot high and threw a lurid glow over the town. Casualties The dead: Raleigh Edwards, 30, housepainter, bayoneted through the stomach. An unidentified white man. Dying: Pat Lawes, reported by his friends to be a relative of the girl involved in the case, shot through the head. Gilbert Freeman, shot through the lungs and stomach. Wounded. Mead Jones, shot in the hand and feet and bayoneted in the feet; condition serious. Everett Patterson, shot in the leg. Herschel Neely, minor gunshot wounds. W. M. Clayman, bayonet wound in the side. James Bledsoe, shot in the feet. Other less seriously wounded men were not identified and a few mem bers of the mob and bystanders suf fered severely from tear gas. The first assault on the court house occurred at 11:45 A. M. when there was only one casualty, an un dentified man being cut on the head by a bayonet. The Guardsmen stood in front of the courthouse, bayonets drawn, tear gas bombs ready, while others of their number manned machine guns at the windows. Fifty yards away, across the courthouse lawn and the street, gathered angry men shout ing at the troops and building the spirit for another attack. Second Attack At 2:15 P. M. a guard officer wav ed his arm and summoned the mob in an attempt to address it. The nerves of the troops and mob mem bers were tense as they gathered about him and in a moment violence flared again. At close quarters the troops wield ed bayonets and hurled tear gas at their attackers. The mob retreated again, leaving behind Edwards, dead of a bayonet wound in his stomach. There were a few minor casualties. As the angry men again marshall led their forces across from the court house, Col. John R. Stark of Nash ville, commanding the troops, turned to Adj. Gen. J. H. Ballew and said: “Don't you think I had beter bring them in?” Ballew nodded and the troops were ordered inside the courthouse to prepare for the next charge which appeared certain to come. It came at 3 P. M. Shouting and brandishing clubs and pistols, the men ran toward the courthouse. They reached the courthouse porch with out a move from the Guardsmen. One man, in the forefront, seized a bench on the porch and crashed it through the glass of the front door. The Guardsmen opened fire. Pat Lawes was shot through the head and fell eight feet from the porch to the concrete walk below. The firing became general and several men in the mob dropped. Sullenly it retreated for the third time. Mob outwitted A few minutes later a squad of Guardsmen rushed out of the court house to an automobile and drove away. One of the group, dressed in a uniform and wearing a gas mask, was Harris. Too late the crowd sensed what had happened, and its ire turned toward remaining officers and troops. Three men carrying a stick of dy namite’ then made their way to a corner of the courthouse, but for some reason abandoned the apparent plan to blast the building. The troops, with guns at port arms and ready to fire, marched out of the courthouse shortly afterward, while the mob shouted epithets and threw stones. Meanwhile, at the Bedford county hospital Dr. James L. Morton, sup erintendent, and his staff were busy amid groans of wounded and dying men. “Lawes is dying right now,” he said, “Gilbert Freeman, too, and we may lose Mead Jones. Raleigh Ed wards is dead, and another dead man was left on our porch a few minutes and then taken away before we could get to him. I don't know who he could have been.” A check of funeral establishments failed to reveal the man’s identity. As darkness came, mob members continued to shout and fire infre quent shots into the air. Some vented their wrath on the four Na tional Yiard trucks parked near the courthouse. After they had been set afire, the fire department tried unsuccessfully to salvage them. ATTORNEY GENERAL LUTZ OF INDIANA NAMES PRICE RIDING WOODEN GUN, CHICAGO, Dec. 19—(P)—Reports that John Dillinger used a bribe as well as a wooden gun in his sensa tional break from the Crown Point, Ind., ja‘l evoked a flood of conflict ing opinions from officials today. “I think it's a proved fact that Dillinger bought his way out of jail,” Attorney General Philip Lutz, Jr., of Indiana declared at Cleveland after being apprised of information to the effect that the outlaw paved his way to freedom with $11,000, “That wooden gun was just part of the stage play.” J. Edward Barce, deputy attorney general of Indiana, who spent six months investigating the farcical es cape and posed as a gunman re cently in running down a Dillinger ally in the Chicago underworld, stat ed he had “never heard that amount mentioned.” He denied knowledge of published reports predicting the in dictment of a number of persons in connection with the episode. Federals and city authorities at Chicago, who the Chicago Daily News said were acquainted with the facts, likewise denied they knew erethine of the affair but intimated it was out of their province. The paper said information that T'Nineer promised to pay them$11, 000 came from Arthur O'Leary, for mer investigator for Louis Piquett, the outlaw’s attorney, and was cor roborated by an unnamed man who saw the money change hands in a Crown Point saloon. Lutz lent some credence to that angle in this state ment: “Perhaps the facts will come up at the trial of a Chicago attorney who is charged with aiding members of the Dillinger gang.” Both O'Leary and Piquett are charged with harboring Dullinger and the attorney is scheduled to be tried soon in federal court. The Daily News also said Indiana officials were preparing to “return wholesle indictments—and the in dictments will include a few Indiana notables—covering the entire Dillin ger gang's history.” Dillinger kept his part of the es cape bargain, the paper said, but lit tle more than half of the sum reach ed the intended hands because of the more than half of the sum reacti oner, kept the remander himself.
Newspaper Details
Somerset Daily Herald
Somerset, Pennsylvania, US
Thu, Dec 20, 1934
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 31 Dec 2025
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