Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday May 7, 1919
Lawrence, Massachusetts – The Ordeal of Anthony Capraro and Nathan Kleinman
From the Boston Evening Globe of May 6, 1919:
TWO LAWRENCE STRIKE LEADERS KIDNAPED
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BEATEN BY CROWD, THEY BOTH SAY
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One Found in Andover, the Other in Lowell
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Special Dispatch to the Globe
Brattleboro Daily Reformer May 6, 1919
LAWRENCE, May 6–Anthony Capraro, reputed to be a representative of the New York Call, a Socialist newspaper, who has been here several weeks, reported to day that he and Nathan Kleinman, also of New York, who is an organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, endeavoring to organize the Amalgamated Textile Workers as a nucleus, were kidnaped at 1:30 this morning by masked and armed men and terribly beaten.
Kleinman appeared at hotel in Lowell early today. Capraro was found in West Andover early this morning in a badly battered condition, and he was taken to the office of Dr. P. J. Look in Andover and his wounds dressed, and afterward taken to the Andover Police Station, where he now is.
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Alleges Mob Beat them
Capraro told his own story while in the Andover Police Station. He said he and Kleinman were in their rooms at the Needham Hotel in Lawrence this morning at 1:30, when a bell boy named James Silk brought the mob of 20 men to their doors. Capraro declared that the score of men were heavily masked and carried revolvers and blackjacks in their hands. When they got into the rooms of Kleinman and Capraro they began beating both labor leaders, Capraro alleged, and finally hustled them down to the street and put them into an automobile and drove away under the cover of darkness.
Capraro stated that it seemed as if they would never reach their destination, the ride was so long, and all the while they were speeding over the country roads in the automobiles the mob was busy beating Kleinman and Capraro over the heads, faces and bodies with their bludgeons.
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Put Noose About His Neck
Capraro said the mob took him out of his automobile in the woods and fixed a noose about his neck and told him they were going to hang him. All the while some of the members of the mob were beating him. Capraro said he could not see Kleinman while this was going on. The crowd which had Kleinman evidently took him to another spot. Finally they decided not to hang Capraro, he said, and they removed the noose from his neck and choked and beat and kicked him unmercifully. When the crowd tired of beating him, Capraro asserted, he managed to escape and he ran into a field and in the dark eluded his screaming pursuers.
Capraro declared that he finally reached a field, fell exhausted and crawled into the high grass and concealed himself. He lay there suffering untold pain and anguish until dawn. He then managed to crawl to the farmhouse of William I. Livingstone, near the Hackett’s Pond railroad station in West Andover. He aroused the occupants of the farmhouse at 5:30 and told his story.
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Not Going Back to Lawrence
The evidences of the beating he had received excited the sympathies of his hearers, and they telephoned to Chief of Police Smith, who came and drove Capraro to the office of Dr. P. J. Look in Andover, where his wounds were dressed. His head, face and body are covered with cuts, lacerations, bruises and abrasions; he is suffering great pain, and his body is very sore. The man was removed to Andover Police Station.
Capraro said he did not see Kleinman after they got out of the automobile, and the men were dragging him away to a tree, where they said they were going to hang him.
Capraro declared to the police:
I know who is responsible for this attack, but even if the individual who is responsible is caught I will not prosecute him because I feel he is a blind instrument in the hands of a rotten system. The system and not the individual is to blame. I believe, however, that the individual who is responsible should be in an insane asylum.
Capraro said he will consult George W. Roewer, attorney for the strike committee, today and does not know what he will do, but one thing he is sure of and that is that he is not coming back to Lawrence today, for he feels he is safer out of the city.
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Alarm Among Strikers
The first the Lawrence police heard of the kidnaping was 8:30 this morning when Manager Dennis Meehan of the Hotel Needham reported that two guests of his hotel were kidnaped and taken out of the hotel during the early morning by a mob. The police began an investigation at once.
The Lowell department telephoned the Lawrence police at 9 this morning that a man had been found wandering in a country road who was in a badly battered condition, and who said he had been in some trouble in Lawrence during the early morning hours. He was taken in charge and is being held for the Lawrence police and his injuries are also being treated.
The Andover police reported to the Lawrence police that a pair of trousers and mask were found in the woods in West Andover this morning near the place where Capraro said he was beaten and where he said the mob started to hang him to a sapling.
The strike situation otherwise was very quiet this morning, and there were few pickets out and no arrests were made.
The kidnapping of Kleinman and Capraro is the sole topic of conversation here to day, and there is considerable consternation among the strikers and some fear of acts of retribution.
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Hotel Clerk Tells of Raid
James Silk, who was in charge at the Needham Hotel when the kidnaping of Capraro and Kleinman took place, told his story to the police today. He said it happened at 3 this morning, and there were 12 men in the gang.
The hotel was locked up for the night, and Silk was at the clerk’s desk doing his work when he heard two men knocking at the front door, which was locked. He went there, and the men asked him to open the door. He told them the hotel was full and there were no rooms. They answered that they had rooms in the house, and wished to be allowed in. He doubted them and shook his head, but one man held up a key, and said he had a room and must get inside.
Silk opened the door, he said, and the men quickly pushed in and pulled masks down over their faces. Both produced revolvers with which they covered him. They ordered him to open the back door. With the two revolvers pressed against his body Silk explained he had no alternative, so he promptly obeyed.
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Cut the Telephone Wires
When he opened the back door 10 other men, fully masked and each carrying a revolver, crowded into the hotel. They led Silk to the office, and just as they entered it the telephone bell rang and one of the men quickly stepped around behind the desk and cut the wires.
The leader of the masked mob demanded that Silk show them to Capraro’s room. They also asked for A. J. Muste, another strike leader. Silk told the men that Muste was not in the hotel, he having left town some days ago.
The spokesman of the kidnapers ordered Silk to show them to the room of Capraro, and did so with fear and trembling. The leader knocked upon the door, and when Capraro opened it he was quickly seized by the mob.
Then the struggle began in earnest. While some of the party were battling with Capraro others went to the room of Kleinman and got him. The kidnapers began to beat both men unmercifully and hustled them out and down the stairs to the rear door. Silk observed an automobile waiting there and saw the kidnapers put Capraro and Kleinman into the car.
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Looking for Kidnapers
It was savage combat and the men fought the attackers desperately, and through it all there was no great sound, at least not sufficient noise to arouse other occupants of the rooms. When the two outraged strike leaders were in the car they were quickly driven away.
This forenoon attorney Georg W. Roewer of Boston, counsel the strike leaders and H. L. Rotzell and Cedric Long called at the hotel and obtained the clothing and other effects belonging to Capraro. Roewer said he would prosecute the case to the limit if the offenders are caught.
When he was told that Capraro had said he knows the leader of the kidnapers and will not prosecute, Roewer said that made a difference, but that he will surely seek a thorough investigation of the affair. Everybody is anxious to discover the identity of the 12 kidnapers and to this end an inquiry is now underway.
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KLEINMAN BATTERED UP REACHES A LOWELL HOTEL
Special Dispatch to the Globe
LOWELL, May 6-Half frozen and clad only in pantaloons, outside shirt and shoes and stockings, Nathan Kleinman, general organizer of the Amalgamated [Clothing] Workers of America, walked into a Lowell hotel early this morning. Kleinman was sent to Police Headquarters, and he complained to Supt. Welsh that he had been dragged from his bed in the Hotel Needham, Lawrence, placed in an automobile by masked men, and when about half way on the road between Lowell and Lawrence, Kleinman says he was told to get out of the automobile and warned never to return to Lawrence.
Kleinman says he believes similar treatment was given Antony Baffera [Capraro] a New York newspaper reporter.
Kleinman declares he was sent from Newark, N. J., two weeks ago, by the National officers of his association to learn how the financial aid they were giving the Lawrence strikers was being distributed. It was his intention, he said, to go to Newark today and had packed his grip for that purpose. That grip, he says, contained considerable of his effects and he was not allowed by the masked men to take it.
Kleinman states that the noise in the hotel corridor gave him the impression somebody was being assaulted and robbed. To afford assistance, if necessary, he opened his room door and the armed masked men, he says, rushed him.
Kleinman has a bruise under the left eye and another at the right elbow. These he says were sustained when he was thrown out of the automobile about daylight this morning. He asserts that he had about $150 yesterday and this morning he has about $40 in his clothing.
Kleinman appears to be about 35 years old, medium height and weight. He states that he divided his time in Lawrence to a general oversight of the aid his association was giving the strikers.
The Lawrence police have been notified of Kleinman’s alleged assault and abduction.
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