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Show MED IN Leader of People's Council Stripped and Thrashed With a Blacksnake. PRAYED FOR KAISER Secret Service Men Had Man Under Surveillance Citizens Citi-zens Mete Out Punishment. Punish-ment. CINCINNATI, Oct. 29 Herbeil(Bige-low, Herbeil(Bige-low, head of the People's church here, and a leading member of the People's council, who was kidnapped in an automobile au-tomobile last night Just before he was to have addressed a Socialist meeting, was found near Florence, Ky., this morning. Bigelow had been taken into a wood, his clothes removed and thrashed with a blacksnake whip by a party of men dressed in "long white robes resembling resemb-ling those described as being worn by the renowned Ku Klux clan." Previous to "twelve lashes being applied to Bigelow's back," one of tho party raised his hand commanding silence si-lence and then read from a paper ho held as follows: "In the name of tho poor women and children of Belgium Hub man should be whipped," accord- ; ing to the report. t Bigelow was then turned loose and 'directed toward Cincinnati. He lost his way, however, and wandered in the woods until he found himself In Florence. Bigelow was taken into custody by five men as he was entering a hall in the city of Newport, Ky., shortly before be-fore 8 o'clock Inst night. He was scheduled to address a meeting of Socialists. So-cialists. At the time of his apprehension appre-hension handcuffs were put upon him and ho was thrust into a waiting automobile au-tomobile and spirited away. Officers Find Documents. Recently federal authorities conducted conduct-ed a raid on Bigelow's office in Cincinnati Cin-cinnati where documents' concerning tho activities of the local People's council were seized. Sunday afternoon at his People's church services, Bigelow Bige-low prayed for "the repose of the soul of Emperor William and the prouJ men surrounding him." Mr. Bigelow's own statement, written writ-ten last night at Florence, Ky., says that previous to his being taken into the woods, ho was blindfolded. He also says that oil was poured over his head after tho lashes wtire administered. adminis-tered. He says that owing to the darkness he was unable to give an accurate guess as to how many uiado up the party and was unable to identify them, but residents along tho Lexington pike state that they noticed a line of twenty-two automobiles pass on tho way to Florence, Ky., last night, somo of which were crowded and carrying men upon. tho running boards of the cars. Mr. Bigelow waa Democratic candidate candi-date for secretary of state of Ohio in 1902 and was a delegate from Hamilton Hamil-ton county to tho constitutional convention con-vention in 1912. He was elected by this convention as its president. For the last several years, however, he has been actively associated with the Socialist So-cialist party. Bigelow was removed to a hospital in this city shortly after his arrival here from Florence ibis morning His friends issued a statement that it is not believed he is In a serious condition. |