Officials Fear Mob Violence
Over Shooting
Crowds Discuss Vengeance in Village Streets
for Wounding of Girl by Wine Grower
CAMILLUS, Sept. 10 – Inflamed by radical youngsters who discussed, businesslike, what sort of a “dose” aged Edwin Slocum, grape grower, “would be compelled to swallow” for his “unwarranted” midnight attack on 19-year-old Anna Althousen, Camillus seethed with excitement Tuesday until the arrival of Sheriff Edward G. Ten Eyck and his deputies.
Mob violence against the aged vineyard owner was feared by the cooler heads and the talkative rage of the agitators did not cease until Deputy Sheriff James Harney and Criminal Deputy Sheriff Edward F. Hoffmire were seen on the village streets bound for the lockup with Slocum in custody.
Warrant Charges Assault.
On a charge of assault in the second degree, preferred by Miss Althousen, Justice of the Peace Stephen D. House issued a warrant for the arrest of the eccentric grape owner. Slocum was taken from his hillside vineyard by Deputies Edward Hoffmire and William Knowlton.
Deputy Hoffmire took from a man a loaded, six-chambered, .32 caliber revolver after Slocum had declared his belief that, even in contravention of the laws on the subject, “a man had a right to shoot to protect his own property.”
The flattened bullet extracted from the scalp of the victim of the midnight shooting was recovered by Sheriff Ten Eyck and preserved for use of the prosecution.
Miss Althousen, young stenographer in the offices of Attorney Reuben Jeffery Jr., University Block, Syracuse, made her home in Camillus with her people and commuted daily to and from her work. She was prominent in the social affairs of the younger set here, well known and well liked. She has always borne the best of reputation here, her character is above reproach, and the knowledge of these facts were added embers to the flames when the radical youngsters met in groups on the street corners to discuss the affair.
Dr. F. G. Cregg, attending physician, calls her wound not serious, unless infection sets in. The bullet cut a jagged gash, three-fourths of an inch in depth, across the back and top of her head. Slight concussion of the brain resulted, and a nervous shock left the victim in an exhausted state. Medical aid had been secured before the loss of blood became a serious factor.
Painful probing did not locate the bullet and it was not for some minutes until the physician was cutting the hair from around the wound that the leaden pellet, coiled with strands of hair, was found imbedded in the flesh. The wound would have been a fatal one had the bullet struck a few inches lower on the back of the head.
Propped in an invalid’s “comfy” chair, the victim of the shooting was taken to the porch of her home on North st. to get the benefit of the cooling breezes that swept the valley, and from her vantage point, high on the hillside, could gaze upon the scurrying groups of townspeople who gathered in the main street.
Used Guns Before.
According to the gossip that circulated freely through the town, this was not the first time that the eccentric grape grower has used firearms to ward off alleged intruders about his premises. Twice on Sunday night he is said to have fired his revolver at alleged forms prowling about the vineyard.
It was also stated about the village that when automobiles first became common on the village streets and Central New York tourists came to know the beauty of the scenery near Camillus, Slocum took a firm stand against the “newfangled things.”
“They had no right,” he was quoted as saying, “scaring horses and people on the roads of the country.”
Slocum has been involved in several mixups with youngsters of this village over the alleged theft of grapes from his vineyard and once figured in the courts when he claimed a young lad from a neighboring township attempted to assault his daughter near the Slocum homestead. The second Mrs. Slocum (the first died several years ago) silently witnessed the arrest and never left her seat in the second story of the barn where she had been selling grapes to passing autoists.
When arraigned before Justice House, Slocum made light of his predicament, and even the statement of Assistand District Attorney Barrett that the charge was a serious one, and that death might have resulted if the bullet had struck lower, did not change the grape grower’s attitude. When the information was read to him, he made the following statement:
“There is a whole lot to this. There is a whole lot in there that is not so. I am sorry the bullet hit her. I didn’t know it until yesterday. I shot four or five times at them. I shot the gun off once the night before. I have been bothered considerably. I don’t know what I can do. I work all day and then have to stay up all night to guard my crops.
“Is she in bed?” he asked Prosecutor Barrett.
“She is under doctor’s care at her home. We don’t know how seriously she is hurt. We must await developments,” was Barrett’s reply.
“Ed,” said the Justice, “you’ll have to get bail or be locked up.”
“Well, now – I’m just starting in the grape business and I’ll be awful busy for the next six weeks,” said the defendant. “I guess we better put this thing over until then. Then I’ll come down and be examined.”
“I guess not,” was Barrett’s answer to this.
“Well, Steve,” queried Slocum, “don’t you want to go on my bail?”
“Well, you see, Ed, I can’t,” replied Justice House. “I’m the court.”
Fails to Get Bail
Attempts to get former supervisor Earle Ellis, then a brother in Marcellus, were unavailing, and when Attorney Barrett refused to accept goverment bonds, without permission of the court, Slocum as taken to Camillus village and left with Deputy Harney.
Lucy and Loretta O’Hara, daughters of the Camillus garage keeper, were at the father’s place of business Sunday night when a call came for a car to go to Warners. When it returned, the suggestion was made that the two girls, Miss Althousen, Francis Quinn and Dan Quinlan would take a spin out to the Marcellus underpass and return before putting the car up for the night. Half of the crowd went in a closed car and the rest in an open roadster.
When about four or five rods from the Slocum home, at the eastern end of the vineyard, all left the cars and started to clamber up the steep bank to the grape vines. According to the stories told to Assistant District Attorney Barrett, Slocum must have been hiding behind the vines, for when the girls reached a spot just over the brow of the incline, the firing opened.
The men dressed in dark clothing were inconspicuous in the dusk, while the girls in white summer clothing were plainly visible. Some say five and others say six shots were fired at the girls. They all scrambled down the bank to the road bed and hid behind the cars. Shots were fired after the party had reached the automobiles.
Then it was that Miss Althousen cried out, “I believe I’m shot,” and put her hand to her head. Blood started streaming down her face and neck and haste was made to get her to the O’Hara home where a doctor was called.
The examination of Slocum was set for Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 11 o’clock in the Camillus Town Hall before Justice House.
John Quinn, mentioned in The Journal yesterday as a member of the party near the shooting affair, was not, it was subsequently learned, near the scene during the day. |
