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Show MAN KILLED IN A CHURCH RIOT, Plttston, Pa., Jan. 1G In a pitched battlo between thirty state troopers and a mob of 500 infuriated men and , women in front of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Polish Roman Catholic church at Dupont, near here, today, one of the rioters was killed. Several Sev-eral are dying In tho Plttston hospital. Captain Leon Pitcher of Troop B, state constabulary, and eight troopers troop-ers wero Injured. Ross Humer of Carlisle, one of the troopers, received a fractured skull, I which will probably cause his death Seventy-three of the rioters are lodged In the county jail at Wilkes-Barro Wilkes-Barro tonight. Thirty of this number num-ber only last Friday wero held In contempt of court for Interfering with services at the church. At that time sontence was suspended. Sheriff George F. Buss of Luzerne county, with twelve state troopers, went to Dupont this morning to assure as-sure protection to Rev. Francis Kur- kowski, appointed by Bishop M. J. Hoban of Scranton to succeed Rev Francis SowzhoskI as pastor of the church there The latter had had trouble with some members of the congregation just before the holidays. Rather than have any disturbance he left the little mining village and returned re-turned to his home at Nanticko. The faction opposed to tho pastor favored the curate, Father Guzwa, as his successor. suc-cessor. Bishop Hoban decreed otherwise, other-wise, and appointed Father Kurkow-ski Kurkow-ski When Father Kurkowski, surrounded surround-ed by state troopers, reached the church today, a crowd of about 500 men and women wero gathered. The sheriff pleaded with the mob to disperse dis-perse and permit tho priest to enter the church. The mob Ignored him, and women began to throw red pepper and mustard mus-tard in tho faces of the sheriff and troopers. Then the church bell began be-gan to toll. As if by prearranged signal sig-nal the mob charged the sheriff and state police. Captain Pitcher, who stood beside the sheriff, Avas the first victim. He was struck upon the head with a heavy club. As ho staggered back, one of the rioters hit him with a stone. He fell unconscious Into the arms of one of his men and was carried car-ried through the crowd to a house near by. A call was sent for reinforcements. rein-forcements. Eighteen troopers hurried hur-ried from tho local barracks to the scene. Riot sticks were brought into action in an effort to disperse the mob. The women fled In terror. The men stood their ground, and ono after another fell In his tracks. Trooper Humor was in the thick of the fight when a burly man crept up behind him and struck him upon the head with a heavy club. Humer dropped. drop-ped. In another moment his assailant assail-ant was stretched out beside him by a follow trooper. Troopers made wholesale arrests of the ringleaders. They were taken into tho basement of the church and placed under guard. Twenty-three men who sought refuge in the parochial pa-rochial residence and seven -who were hiding In tho belfry were beaten into submission when they showed fight. |