“Worldly Girl” Tarred and Feathered

Dorothy Grandon - Lloyd Shank - Mary Shank

Girl Tarred and Feathered By a Mob of Fifty Men

MIDDLETON, Md., July 25. — Dorothy Grandon, 21, of Martinsburg, Pa., was tarred and feathered last night by a mob of 50 men on the county road between Myersville and Middleton, Md.

Fifty business men, merchants and citizens of Myersville, face arrest on charges of being members of the mob. Sheriff Ingemar of Frederick county after questioning the Grandon girl at the home of James Whip, a farmer announced that warrants would be sworn out during the day.

Whip was threatened with death because of his rescue of the girl from the mob. With J.O. Shepley, a Myersville merchant, Whip was attracted by the girls’ screams. His home is near the scene of the assault. The two men ran up the road fought their way through the mob and found the girl covered with tar.

Whip secured a sheet, wrapped it around the girl and carried her to his home. A doctor found her body covered with bruises as result of the beating she received at the hands of the mob. Mr.and Mrs. Whip succeeded in only partially removing the tar from the girl’s body.

The girl said she had been visiting at the home of Mrs. Viola Kennedy, near the foot of Catossin Mountain on the county road near Myersville. She came here last week with a girl named Mabel Mills, 20, of Hagerstown.

Yesterday, Mrs. Kennedy received a letter from Sheriff Ingomar ordering her to leave the county.
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FREDERICK, MD., July 25 — (By the Associated Press) — A young woman whose name was said to be Dorothy Grandon, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was tarred and feathered near Myersville, Frederick county last night by an unmasked mob said to have been led by a young married woman who had objected to alleged attentions paid by her husband to Miss Grandon.

The mob met the woman on the street and took her to the edge of the village where she was stripped of her attire and a coat of tar and feathers was applied.

A woman companion of Miss Grandon also had been ordered to leave Myersville, but she was not molested.

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Jul 25, 1924

Grandon - Shank - Whipp - Whipp

Woman Admits Striking Girl And Applying Tar and Feathers Because She Saw Husband Hugging Her

FREDERICK, MD., July 26. — (By the Associated Press.) — It was a woman who applied the coat of tar and feathers to Miss Dorothy Grandon, 20 years old, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, near Myersville, Frederick county, Thursday night.

Mrs. Lloyd Shank, wife of a farmer, admitted this fact at the hearing here last night of herself and eight men accused of being participants in the affair. All were released on bail of $2,000 each for the grand jury on a technical charge of assault and battery. The victim was sent to jail in default of $500 bond as a material witness.

Those arrested were a part of about fifty men alleged to have composed the mob that participated in the tarring and feathering of the Grandon girl who had been accused by Mrs. Shank of receiving the attention of her husband.

The men accused are Calvin Shank, brother-in-law of the avenging wife; Romer Shank, her father-in-law; and Harry Leatherman, all farmers; Alvey and Arthur Rice, brothers, employed in the Myersville garage, and Irving Rice, a third brother, Paul Grossnickle and Grayson Doub, farmers.

Victim Tells Her Story

Telling her story at the hearing last night Miss Grandon said she and another girl had been ordered to leave the place by the sheriff and having no money she started to walk to Martinsburg, hoping to get a lift on the way. She met Lloyd Shank, whom she advised to “go home to his wife like a man,” she said, and directly afterward Mrs. Shank drove up. They had some words and Mrs. Shank went away with her husband and she continued on her way, accompanied by her girl friend.

Soon afterward they were overtaken by three automobiles, from one of which sprang Mrs. Shank. After some words, Mrs. Shank struck her with a club knocking her down with the third blow, her attacker then almost stripped her of her clothing. She could smell the tar she said, and begged them on her knees “not to do such a thing.”

Encouraged by the cries of the men, Miss Grandon declared, Mrs. Shank threw buckets of tar over her and showered her with feathers.

“And in the wild uproar,” the victim went on, “they slandered me like I was a common dog.”

“They’d stop automobiles coming along the road and speak to them to flash their lights on me and look at me. Don’t she look pretty, they’d jeer.

“The only women there were she and I. All the rest were men.”

Says She Struck Her With Club

Meanwhile her girl companion had disappeared. Mrs. Shank admitted in her statement to the magistrate that she struck the Grandon girl twice with a club and tore her clothes from her, all but a flimsy undergarment. She said:

“I wanted to do the job myself. I took the tar from one of the men and poured it over her. Then I grabbed the sack of feathers and threw them on her.”
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MORE IMPLICATED IN ATTACK

FREDERICK, MD., July 20. — (By the United Press.) — Shaken by her experiences, her face and body bearing evidence of mistreatment at the hands of an infuriated group of men and at least one woman, 20 year old Dorothy Grandon was sheltered at the home of James Whipp, a farmer living near Middletown today, while her assailants who applied a coat of tar and feathers, were held for the grand jury in bonds of $2,000 each.

Sixteen men and one woman are now accused of having had a share in the tarring.
Eight additional men, all farmers, were named as having participated in the attack during a hearing before Magistrate Brust today.

Mrs. Shank is held in jail awaiting bail. Her male companions have pledged their collateral.

Whipp fought his way through a mob which was attempting to punish Miss Grandon for her alleged attentions to a married man of the county, and despite threats that he would receive “the same dose,” succeeded, with the aid of the man in question in getting the girl away.

Nine persons were arrested, and a hearing was held before Justice of the Peace Storm last night. A large crowd gathered, those unable to get inside, peering through windows.
Those bound over with Mrs. Shank were Homey Shank, her father-in-law; Calvin Shank, a cousin of the husband; Aldey Rice, Irving Rice and Arthur Rice, brothers; Paul Grossnickle, Grayson Dodd and Harry Leatherman all of Middletown.

The girl, the upper part of her body still smeared with tar, was held in $500 bond as a material witness.

The tarring and feathering was attended by a mob estimated to number between 50 and 60 on the main highway near Middletown, Thursday night. The offense charged against the nine assailants, under the laws of Maryland, carries a penalty of imprisonment for not more than 10 years, nor less than 18 months without the alternative of a fine.

Says She Saw Husband Hugging Girl

Mrs. Shank admitted inciting the entire proceeding.

“I saw my husband hugging the Grandon girl,” she said. “I went and got help.”

The mob that gathered streamed down the road toward Myersville and captured the girl. Mrs Shank tore the clothes from the girl’s body and struck her with a club, it was charged. Then she applied hot tar, the affair being stopped when her husband and James Whipp fought their way through the mob and carried off the nearly unconscious girl.

Both In Jail, Woman and Her Victim Bury Animosity

FREDERICK, MD., July 20. — (By the United Press) — Both held in jail today unable to raise bond demanded as a result of the tarring and feathering and beating party, 20-year old Dorothy Grandon, the victim, and Mrs. Mary Shank, who admitted inciting the attack and applying the tar and feathers, buried their animosity in the opportunity to discuss their predicament.

The Grandon girl and Mrs. Shank both spent the night in jail. All animosity between the two women seemed to have disappeared after the hearing and they discussed the case amicably in the jail corridor.

Their cells adjoin each other and they were given the freedom of the corridor.

The Grandon girl seemed especially regretful over the turn her affairs have taken.

“If I’d have known that I had to stay in jail,” she said today, “I’d have taken my medicine and not have accused anybody.”

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Jul 26, 1924

ANOTHER CITY HEARD FROM
Dorothy Grandon Reported Known in Chambersburg, Pa.

A dispatch from Chambersburg, Pa., says:

“Dorothy Grandon of Hagerstown, who was tarred and feathered last week at Myersville, by a mob led by a woman, last year was under care of the local welfare committee — now defunct — which maintained a venereal ward at the Chambersburg Hospital, local officers said.

“While at the local hospital she was made guard over the other girls in the ward, but one day she connived with a local taxi driver, who later lost his license for this offense, to take her to Hagerstown. She was away from the hospital for several weeks when Police Chief Byers and Constable Klipp went to Hagerstown and returned her to the institution.

“She was picked up here and placed in jail, where she remained some time before being taken to the hospital ward. While here she told Police Chief Byers that she had been in a school or home for girls in West Virginia and had been made a teacher. She gave evidence of being well educated, police say.”

The News (Frederick, Maryland) Aug 1, 1924

Receives Proposals

FREDERICK. — Dorothy Grandon, victim of Myersville tar and feather mob about a week ago, who is confined in the Frederick county jail in default of $500 bond as a State witness, is being deluged with offers of marriage. Letters seeking to ascertain Dorothy’s views of the matrimonial question are said to be coming in from various parts of the country and according to the epistles, which usually start out “My Dear Dorothy,” the girl who was recently tarred and feathered will have no trouble in locating a husband.

The Gettysburg Times (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) Aug 4, 1924

Examining the Evidence

Mrs. Shank Pleads Guilty In Tar And Feather Case;
Leatherman Goes On Trial Before Jury;
Past Life Of Miss Grandon Not To Be Revealed

COURT FIRM IN RULING IT SHALL NOT BE QUESTIONED
Only Inquiry is Whether She Was Tarred and Feathered;
If Leatherman Had Part.

SENTENCE ON WOMAN WHO PLEADED GUILTY DEFERRED

Court Room Crowded When Cases Are Called For Trial.

The “past life” of Dorothy Grandon cannot be made the basis of an inquiry by the defense in the Myersville tarring and feathering cases. Chief Judge Hammond Urner and Associate Judge Robert B. Peter ruled this morning in circuit court. That ruling, court attaches felt, dealt a hard blow to the defense.

Perhaps the outstanding development and surprise of the day was the admission of Mrs. Mary Shank, wife of Lloyd Shank, that she was guilty. Her counsel, Samuel A. Lewis, after being overruled on a demurrer to the indictment, announced that she pleaded guilty generally. There are three counts in the indictment — tarring and feathering, assault and battery, and riot.

At the request of Mrs. Shank’s attorney, the court deferred sentence. It was expected that the remainder of the cases will be heard before sentence is pronounced.

After the Shank case had been disposed of in less than fifteen minutes, State’s Attorney William M. Storm announced he would next try Harry Leatherman. There were nine counts in the indictment against Leatherman, and demurrers were sustained to three of these for the purpose of simplifying the charges and the remaining six allowed to stand.
Leatherman pleaded guilty and asked a jury trial. Judge Urner’s ruling on behalf of the court on the “character” of Miss Grandon came while Reno S. Harp, who with Samuel A. Lewis and H. Kieffer Delauter represents Leatherman, was making his opening statement to the jury.

Jury Selected.

Only six jurymen from the regular panel were acceptable to both the State and the defense. Twelve talismen were also called to the jury box before the jury was secured. The jury follows: John P. Style, foreman; Richard J. Allnutt, Grover C. Trout, William D. Curfman, Charles F. Kreb[h?], C. Harry Cramer, Allan M. Spitzer, Bernard W. Wilson, Clyde W. Smith, Ulysses G. Hooper, Archie W. Ogle and J. Calvin Fox. The last six named are talismen.

[list of all jurymen called and challenged, not transcribed]

Immediately following the selection of the jury, the Court asked for the opening statements.

State’s Attorney William M. Storm then formally turned toward the jury and stated that the State expected to prove that on the night of July 23, Leatherman, in company with a number of others, planned to perform the act which occurred the following evening.

On the evening of July 24, the State asserted, it intended to prove that Leatherman was seen coming out of the Farmer’s Exchange at Myersville with a bag of feathers and that he stopped at the home of James Whipp, a farmer, and asked him if he had seen anything of the girls. (meaning Miss Grandon and Viola Kennedy.)

It was then contended that Leatherman jumped on the running board of an automobile and proceeded down the road toward Middletown until he saw the girls, and that after passing them a short distance, he stopped and came back. The State then added that it would prove that Leatherman urged the Shank woman to beat the girl. (Miss Grandon) and also urged Mrs. Shank to strip Miss Grandon. Leatherman, it was then asserted, handed the Shank woman the tar and feathers and then hurled “filthy and vile epithets” at Miss Grandon following the occurrence.

The Defense.

Reno S. Harp, one of hte attorneys for the defense, began by referring to the “wide notoriety” of the girl and urged the jury to pay no attention to newspaper accounts of the case. Here the Court interrupted the attorney and admonished him not to refer to any specific newspaper which the attorney had done during the course of his talk. Mr. Harp asserted that the State could produce no evidence against Leatherman and further declared that the Shank woman “had committed the whole crime.”

A further insinuation against the character of the Grandon girl was objected to by the State and the objection was sustained.

“We are not here to try the character,” the Court declared, “and the only concern of the jury is to determine the guilt,” of the prisoner at the bar, Mr. Harp was informed.

The defense then contended that it expected to prove that Leatherman did not participate in the affair, and had made no arrangements fr any tar or feathers. Here the attorney for the defense referred to the “prosecuting witness. (Miss Grandon,) seen in the company with a certain woman’s husband,” and the State again objected and was sustained by the Court.

The defense asserted that Leatherman went down the road to the scene where the tarring and feathering occurred as a spectator and did not carry anything but a flashlight, and that he did not participate in the affair at all.

The defense then concluded the opening statement and Miss Grandon was called to the stand, the first witness in the case and the main prosecuting witness.

Miss Grandon began her testimony by stating that she in company with a friend, Viola Kennedy, of near Myersville, was walking along the road toward Middletown. After they had walked about three-quarters of a mile, they met Mabel Mills and Luther Silver.

While together, several automobiles passed the four and after they had passed about ten minutes together, they saw Leatherman and Mary Shank approaching.

Miss Grandon then declared that she was assaulted with a club and after that the Shank woman asked for the tar and feathers and asserted that Leatherman gave them to her. Prior to that, she said she was held by Paul Grossnickle and Calvin Shank, while she was being beaten with the club. Leatherman then handed the Shank woman the bucket of tar and it was applied to her and then Leatherman gave the Shank woman the feathers which she in turn scattered on Miss Grandon.

The witness further declared that Leatherman carried a large flashlight which he flashed upon her after she had been stripped, tarred and feathered, as passing motorists went by. “After the mob drifted away,” Miss Grandon said, “I asked for a machine to go to the Kennedy woman’s house,” and Leatherman replied that I should be tied on the back of a car and dragged through Myersville.

The affair began about 7:30 o’clock in the evening, Miss Grandon said and ended about 12:45 when she reached the home of James Whipp in reply to a question by the State, she stated the tar and feathers were removed with “lard, hot water and soap.” This question was preceded by several similar questions which were objected to by the defense and the court ordered the wording changed.

At this point the clothing that Miss Grandon wore at the time of the far and the feathers were applied, were exhibited to the jury and passed around. Following a few minor questions, the State concluded.

During the cross-examination, it was brought out that Miss Grandon’s real name is Lorraine Pearell and declared that her home is in Martinsburg, W. Va. When asked why she changed her name, the State objected and the Court sustained it.

It was further brought out that Miss Grandon had been living in Hagerstown, but questions as to why she left that place and came to Myersville were objected to by the State and they were sustained by the Court.

Miss Grandon admitted taht she had been convicted in Hagerstown of being drunk and disorderly. She was not convicted in Chambersburg, Pa., she said. State’s Attorney Storm interposed frequent objection to questions asked by Mr. Harp which led Judge Urner to say that the court had indicated the line of its ruling at the outset and would not permit any effort to circumvent it. There was a very specific charge involved, said Judge Urner, and added that the defense must confine its examination along that line. The only inquiry the defense could make, Judge Urner ruled again, was along the line of the tarring and feathering. It was not proper, he said, for counsel to try to get before the jury something that was contrary to the court’s ruling.

Once more when Mr. Harp sought to question the witness along a line that the court thought was not proper, and after he had stated to the court he thought a right to ask such question, Judge Urner said:

“We differ radically from that view and of course it is the responsibility of the court to rule on the questions.”

The News (Frederick, Maryland) Sep 29, 1924

MAN WHO HELPED TAR AND FEATHER GIRL IS CONVICTED

FREDERICK, MD., Oct. 16 — Arthur Rice was found guilty by a jury in circuit court tonight of aiding and abetting in the tarring and feathering of Miss Dorothy Grandon. The verdict carries a penitentiary sentence of from 18 months to 10 years.

Counsel for Rice, who was released on $2,000 bond, immediately filed a motion for a new trial, which will be argued upon completion of the remaining 17 cases growing out of the attack.

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Oct 16, 1924

Members of Tar and Feather Party Are Sentenced; Woman Must Serve Jail Term

FREDERICK, MD., October 27. — (By the Associated Press) — Condemning in strong terms the conduct of the mob which last July tarred and feathered Dorothy Grandon, 20, Martinsburg, W. Va., Chief Judge Hammond Werner in circuit court here today imposed sentence upon one woman and eleven men, suspended sentence upon two and declared five other men not guilty. The woman sentenced was Mrs. Mary Shank, who pleaded guilty and confessed that in a jealous rage she tore the clothing from Miss Grandon and daubed her with tar and feathers. She was given nine months in the Frederick county jail.

Harry N. Leatherman, of Myersville, where the assault took place, was sentenced to two years in the house of correction. Mrs. Shank testified that Leatherman furnished her with the tar and feathers for the “tar party.” A like sentence was imposed in the case of Arthur Rice.

Both these sentences were for rioting. The men were also convicted of tarring and feathering Miss Grandon, but have asked for a new trial.

Nine other men convicted of rioting were sentenced to one year in the house of correction. They are Roma Shank, father-in-law of Mrs. Shank, Walter and Calvin Shank, her brother-in-laws; Alvin Rice, John Langdon, Grayson Doub, Vernon Summers, William Houpt and Irwin Rice.

Sentence was suspended in the cases of Harold Grossnickel and Frederick Shepley.

The five men found not guilty of the charge are Paul Grossnickel, John Shepley, Chester Shepley, Claude and Howard Toms.

Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio) Oct 27, 1924

AFTER DOROTHY GRANDON
Tar Case Victim Implicated in Auto Case.

Ralph Timmons, alleged deserter from the Marine Corps; Odessa Miller, a young woman of Martinsburg and Lorraine Pearrell or Dorothy Grandon, also of Martinsburg, the latter figuring in the tar-and-feather case at Myersville, are being sought by police of Martinsburg. Timmons being charged with being implicated in the theft of an auto from R.F.A. Bowers, stepfather of the Miller girl, and the others sought as accomplices.

Bowers told officers that Timmons and Miss Miller went to Washington and returned, claiming they were married. When he questioned their story, because they had no papers, they left, he said, taking his car and also picking up Lorraine Pearrell.

The News (Frederick, Maryland) May 27, 1926

Tags: 1924, Dorothy Grandon, Doub, Grandon, Grossnickle, Houpt, James Whip, James Whipp, Langdon, Leatherman, Lorraine Pearell, Mabel Mills, Martinsburg WV, Mary Shank, Maryland, Moral Authority, Myersville MD, Ralph Timmons, Rice, Shank, Summers, Tar and Feather, Vigilantism, Viola Kennedy, West Virginia