The front page of the Altoona Mirror, April 7, 1924, describing events of two days earlier.
Lilly is a small town in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, about 125 miles west of the Lykens Valley. On April 5, 1924, a riot took place there between members of the Ku Klux Klan and townspeople, and, about ten years ago the local and county historical society erected a monument there to commemorate the event. The monument features a bronze plaque depicting fifteen hooded Klansmen and two arms with clasped hands signifying the townspeople stopping the Klan and kicking them out of town.
The inscription on the monument is as follows:
KU KLUX KLAN RIOT – April 5, 1924
Lilly was targeted or a massive Ku Klux Klan demonstration because local coal mines had hired Catholic immigrants and fired Klan members. Four hundred hooded Klansmen arrived by train early on this April evening and paraded to Piper’s Hill where they burned two crosses and exploded multiple dynamite charges to intimidate the locals.
But the townspeople were not cowed! During the parade back to the trains, the Klansmen were jeered, pelted, roughed-up and hosed down. Gunfire broke out and lasted for several minutes. The Klansmen then fled in disarray to the trains, leaving Lily residents Philip Conrad, Cloyd Paul and Frank Miesko to die from gunshot wounds.
LILLY’S RESISTANCE TO THE KLAN’S DEMONSTRATION PROVED TO BE THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE KLAN’S ADVANCE IN THE NORTH-EASTERN UNITED STATES.
There are several problems with the inscription, including that the Lilly resistance was not the beginning of the end of the Klan’s advance. All the major Klan events in the Lykens Valley area took place after the Lilly riot and Klan activities did not begin to subside until after 1927. Secondly, not mentioned on the plaque, was that in the aftermath of the riot, a trial was held and both Klansmen and townspeople were convicted of rioting and each guilty person was sentenced to two years in the county jail. This certainly had a chilling effect on any townspeople in other parts of the state who thought of trying to stop the advance of the Klan.
Hugh Brady Conrad, on his blog, points out the following issues he has with the monument:
The plaque on the “historical” monument is wrong on a number of issues. The KKK did not come to Lilly because of the UMW [United Mine Workers]. That was furthest from its intent. The animus was all religious, and because Lilly was a very Catholic community along the Mainline of the Pennsylvania railroad, one in which the animus between Catholics and Protestants was intense and deep, they decided upon the small town of about 2,300 people, certain that the cross burnings would stir some deep passions within the residents.
They did, and at the end, it boiled over into violence. Three people — two Catholics, one Klan-sympathizer – were killed that night at the end…. [Note: The Altoona Mirror headlines indicate only two were killed. The third person died later, and his death was attributed to the riot].
How did the Lykens Valley area newspapers treat the riot and the trial that took place afterward? A sampling of articles is presented below.
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The Elizabethville Echo was the only local newspaper that reported anything about the riot. In its April 17, 1924 edition, the following was stated:
LILLY KLANSMEN REFUSED BAIL
Members of Hooded Order Must Remain in Jail Until Trial
Johnstown, Pennsylvania — Judge John E. Evans of the Cambria County Court refused writs of habeas corpus to 26 members of the Ku Klux Klan accused of the murders of Philip Conrad, Cloyd Paul and Frank Miasco, residents of the mining town of Lilly in the recent disturbance there. They were remanded to jail without bail to await trial in the June term of court.
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The first reporting of the riot appeared in the Harrisburg newspapers of April 7, 1924.
From the Harrisburg Evening News, April 7, 1924:
STATE POLICE ON GUARD AT LILLY TO QUELL RIOTS
LILLY, April 7 [1924] — State police today were in control of Lilly, following a gun battle and street fighting Saturday night between members of the Ku Klux Klan and town folk in which two men were killed and a score injured.
The riot started when a group of young men turned a fire hose on more than 500 Klansmen who were marching to the railroad station after holding a ceremony on Piper Hill.
When the water struck the marchers it is alleged members of the Klan drew revolvers and fired into the townfolk.
Many of the townsmen, who were armed, returned the fire. The men on opposing sides who were unarmed, used bricks and stones for weapons.
At the first volley Philip Conrad, 25, and Floyd Paul, 25, townfolk, were shot through the breast and killed.
The townsfolk, more than 1000, who had gathered at the railroad station to watch the unusual parade, attempted to defend themselves but were shoved aside and trampled under foot by the Klansmen who rushed to a special train that was waiting to carry them to their homes in Johnstown.
Four Under Arrest
Four men of Lilly, believed to have been the ringleaders of the riot, are under arrest today and are being held for questioning. State troopers made the arrests after an investigation.
Inhabitants of Lilly, a little mining town of 2500 — today are grief-stricken and awed by the tragedy.
Fifteen of the townsmen injured in the battle are in hospitals at Altoona and Johnstown, a like number of men are at their homes nursing lacerations and bruises.
The fate of Philip Conrad was unusually pathetic. Today would have been the young man’s twenty-fifth birthday. His mother had baked Philip a birthday cake and was putting on the icing just about the time Conrad was shot.
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From the Harrisburg Evening News, April 7, 1924:
Pinchot Awaits Further Information From Lilly
Governor Pinchot today said he is awaiting further information from Lilly, Cambria County, where Saturday night two persons were killed and a dozen others injured following a Ku Klux Klan meeting, held after the townspeople had objected.
The State Police are still in the town and they are gathering all data relative to the fight between the Klansmen and the people of the town. They are gathering affidavits and upon this action will probably be brought. The police are cooperating with the county authorities. Until a report is made it is not known what action the State will take.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, April 7, 1924:
28 FACE CHARGES OF MURDER AND RIOT IN CAMBRIA
Klansmen Held for Death of Two After Parade
MANY ARE WOUNDED
Johnstown, April 7 [1924] — Carrying concealed deadly weapons, murder and riot were the charges made against the twenty-four men said to be members of the Ku Klux Klan by District Attorney D. P. Weimer here this afternoon. The prisoners, arrested in connection with the fighting between visiting klansmen and townspeople of the village of Lilly Saturday night, during which two Lilly men were killed, will be given a preliminary hearing later.
The informations made by the district attorney charge that the men met together “to disturb the peace and to riot.” The murder charge named Philip Conrad and Floyd Paul as the victims of the fighting. They were shot to death in the riot which started when a number of men turned water from a fire house [sic] on the Klansmen as they were about to entrain from Johnstown.
Four residents of Lilly, held in jail there in connection with the fight, will be given a hearing later on a riot charge.
Coroner M. W. Swabb, of Cambria County, announced that he would not set the date for an inquest until he had been advised further as to the condition of a number of wounded men in an Altoona hospital. Reports from the hospital were that little hope was held for the recovery of Frank Miasco and Patrick Bradley, both of Lilly who were shot. The condition of a score of other persons who were wounded was said to be “fair.” Of this number, a few more were brought to a Johnstown hospital on the special train which was chartered by the klansmen for the journey to Lilly.
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From the Harrisburg Evening News, 9 April 1924:
26 Arrested as Result of Lilly Riots to Get Hearings at 2 Today
JOHNSTOWN, April 9 [1924] — Six more Lilly citizens were arrested late yesterday by State Police and charges of rioting have been preferred against them at the office of Justice of the Peace Veil at Cresson. They will be arraigned today. Other arrests are to be made, the troopers say.
The death of Frank Miasco, Lilly, brought the total of deaths in Saturday night’s rioting to three, while Patrick Bradley, of Lilly, is in a dying condition at the Altoona Hospital.
Twenty-six Klansmen will be taken to the county seat at Ebensburg from the Johnstown police station at noon today for a hearing in habeas corpus on charges of rioting and murder, to determine whether they can be admitted to bail. The hearing is set for 2 p. m.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, April 10, 1924:
KLAN MASKS ILLEGAL COURT RULES WHEN BAIL IS REFUSED
Ebensburg, April 10 [1924] — Denying an application for a writ of habeas corpus, Judge Evans has ordered twenty-five men said to be members of the Ku Klux Klan held without bail in connection with the fatal disorders at Lilly Saturday night between townspeople and visiting Klansmen.
The judge said that in the opinion of the court it was unlawful in Pennsylvania for a body of men to assemble when dressed in gowns and masks. Such demonstrations, he said, tend to put persons in fear, and it was unlawful in this State to stage any demonstration having that effect. The court defined the law pertaining to rioting saying that any person who participated was liable for any acts of violence committed by any one in the crowd.
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From the Harrisburg Evening News, April 10, 1924:
HOLD 26 ALLEGED KLANSMEN FOR LILLY MURDERS
JOHNSTOWN, April 10 [1924] — Twenty-six alleged members of the Ku Klux Klan are held for the grand jury on charges of first degree murder in connection with the riot at Lilly, last Saturday, in which three persons were killed and several injured, following their arraignment yesterday.
Judge John E. Evans, of the Cambria county Court at Ebensburg, denied bail to the defendants and remanded them to jail.
Witnesses testified that the alleged Klansmen who marched the streets of Lilly before the riot carried nearly 100 revolvers.
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From the Pottsville Republican, June 9, 1924:
JOINT TRIAL IN LILLY RIOT
EBENSBURG, Pennsylvania — A defense motion for separate trials for forty-four men on a riot indictment which grew out of the fight between visiting Ku Klux Klansmen and residents of Lilly, Pennsylvania, on April 5, were denied by Judge Thomas R. Finletter, in court here today. After hearing the motion. Judge Finletter denied the severance, saying a joint trial was the ideal way in which to dispose of a riot case.
Percy Allen Rose, representing 22 of the defendants who are alleged to be members of the Klan, and Phillip Shettig, of counsel for 15 Lilly men, joined in the motion for separate trials. District Attorney D. P. Weimar argued that the defendants should be tried jointly as they were under similar indictments charging riot, affray, and unlawful assembly.
Attorney Shettig argued that the 15 men he represented could not hope for a fair and impartial trial unless the severance was granted.
After Judge Finletter rendered his decision, the 44 defendants were brought into court. The man [sic] floor of the little court room was reserved for the jurors. The gallery, thrown open to the public, was crowded several hours before court convened. Scores of persons who failed to obtain seats in the court room, crowded the corridors and gathered on the court house lawn.
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From the Mount Carmel Item, June 9, 1924:
44 DEFENDANTS IN LILLY RIOT CASE TO BE TRIED JOINTLY
EDENSBURG, Pennsylvania, June 9 [1924] — After arguments had consumed nearly the forenoon session of criminal court, Judge Thomas B. Finletter of Philadelphia, specially presiding over the trial of the twenty-nine alleged Klansmen and fifteen Lilly citizens charged with participating in the Lilly outbreak in which three young men were killed on the night of April 5, last, refused applications presented by the defense, refused separate trials for each of the 44 defendants.
Petitions for separate trials were presented by Attorney Percy Allen Rose of Johnstown, chief counsel for the Klansmen, and Attorney Phillip N. Shettig of Ebensburg, chief counsel for the Lilly citizens, District Attorney P. W. Weimer, representing the Commonwealth bitterly opposed the petitions for separate trials, whereupon the court ruled that the 44 defendants be tried jointly.
The men accused of responsibility for the Lilly riot were brought from the county jail into the court room and arraigned jointly on charges of riot, unlawful assemblage and affray.
When court adjourned at 12 o’clock noon only two jurors had been selected, these being Theodore Kerr, teamster of Nanty-Glo and Wendell Larimer, deputy county treasurer of Patton.
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From the Sunbury Daily Item, June 16 Jun 1924:
STATE WILL TRY EVERY KLANSMAN
(Special by United Press)
Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, June 16 [1924] — “The Klan riot trial will be continued until the last of the accused has been disposed of,” District Attorney Weimer told the United Press today. “The state has no intention of slackering.”
A crowded court room was ready for the second of the murder trials growing out of the riot at Lilly April 5, when infuriated citizens clashed with the hooded order and three men were killed and a score injured.
William Monahan, one of the Lilly Anti-klansmen went before the jury today.
Sam Evans, purported to be one of the leading klansmen who participated in the riots, was exonerate on one murder charge Saturday, but is still in jail as he is accused of the murder of two other persons during the riot.
Thirty-one persons are in jail and each will be tried for the tree murders. Today defense attorneys will present a motion to have 18 of the 31 released on bail.
Following completion of the Monday trial defense attorneys may ask for a new trial on the unlawful assemblage charge for which the 31 persons were found guilty last week.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, June 17, 1924:
HEARD THREATS BEFORE SLAYINGS IN KLAN RIOTS
Witness Testifies He Saw Two Lilly Defendants Urge Hanging
BIG CROWD GATHERS
Ebensburg, July 17 [1924] — (By The Associated Press). — Threats made by residents of Lully against visiting Ku Klux Klansmen on April 5 last, prior to the fight between the two factions in which three Lilly residents met death were testified today by State witnesses in the trial of William Monahan, young Lilly coal miner, whose indictment for murder grew out of the disorder.
Francis Squires of Cassanadra, testified he went to Lilly on a freight train the night of the trouble, and that when he arrived in the village he saw a crowd loitering on a corner. The klansmen, he said, were holding a demonstration on a nearby hillside, and one man yelled “come on boys, a stick of dynamite will do it.” Another man said “come on we’ll go up and drive them out,” the witness continued. The crowd, he said started toward the hill, but disbanded a few minutes later.
Squires testified that he saw Harold Bradley and Dan Carney, two of the Lilly defendants, and another man holding a threatening to hang a fourth man. “I’ve hit him just three times. They said they were going to wade in Catholic blood up to their knees,” Bradley said, according to the witness. A few minutes later one of the men remarked, “we won’t hang him. We’ll take him to the train,” Squires testified. On cross-examination the witness said Bradley did not qualify when he made the statement about “they” wading in Catholic blood.
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From the Harrisburg Evening News, June 17, 1924:
Women Witnesses Testify in Lily [sic] Riot
EBENSBURG, June 17 [1924] — Today three new witnesses — two of them women — were injected into the trial of WIlliam Monahan, Lilly resident indicted on murder charges in connection with the fighting between Lilly men and the Ku Klux Klansmen at Lilly, during a klan demonstration there.
Esther Hanna and her sister Anna, young Lilly women, told him they were attacked by unmasked men after cheering the marching klansmen, and the younger girl, Anna, said she suffered a broken ankle in the melee.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, July 2, 1924:
28 CONVICTED OF LILLY AFFRAY MUST SERVE TWO YEARS
Johnstown, July 2 [1924] — Refused new trials, eighteen alleged members of the Ku Klux Klan and ten Lilly citizens yesterday were sentenced by Judge Thomas D. Finletter, Philadelphia, to two years each in the county jail, dating from the time of their arrest, shortly after the Lilly riot of April 8. Three Lilly citizens were granted an arrest of judgment, Jeremiah Lashey, John P. Bradley and Robert Manahan, and were released on bail of $1,000 each. The others were taken back to the jail to complete their sentences.
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From the West Schuylkill Herald, Tower City, July 18, 1924:
PENNSYLVANIA BRIEFS
Refusing the motions to set aside judgment and for a new trial in the cases of 18 alleged members of the Ku Klux Klan and 10 Lilly residents, convicted at Ebensburg of affray and unlawful assemblage in connection with the fatal rioting at Lilly the night of April 5, Judge Finletter, of Philadelphia, sentenced the 28 men to pay the costs of the prosecution and to undergo two years of imprisonment in the county jail, the terms dating from their incarceration.
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News articles from Newspapers.com. Note that 1924 newspapers from Lykens, Elizabethville, Tower City, Tremont, and Pine Grove are available on this site, but no newspapers from Millersburg, Halifax, Williamstown or Herndon have yet been posted on the site.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.