At a New Year’s Eve dance party in Loyalton, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, a White man allegedly insulted a White woman who was with a Black man. The Black man took out a gun and shot the White man in the hip. Then the Black man and White woman fled to Philadelphia, where they were arrested and returned to Dauphin County. The Black man was sentenced to eight months in jail, but was paroled after five months.
From the Harrisburg Telegraph, January 5, 1931:
HELD IN SHOOTING AT LYKENS DANCE NEW YEAR’S EVE
Loyalton Man Accused; Woman Faces Charge as Accessory
Alleged to have shot Harry Harper, 29, Loyalton, in the right hip at a New Year’s Eve dance in a poolroom and dance hall near Lykens, John Love, 27, Negro, was arrested Saturday in Philadelphia. Mrs. Pauline H. Wingert, 26, near Lykens was arrested with Love as an accessory after the fact.
According to State Police who are investigation, Love shot Harper when Mrs. Wingert complained to the Negro that harper had insulted her. Love is alleged to have drawn a revolver and shot Harper in the hip.
Mrs. Wingert and Love left for Philadelphia in a automobile operated by Ernest Brown, 37, Negro of near Lykens. Brown waas arrested by State Police Thursday when he returned.
Love and Mrs. Wingert were brought to this city by Chief of Police Herb, Lykens; Constable Enders, Lykens, and State Trooper Walsh. They were committed to the Dauphin County Jail with Brown for a hearing beefore Justice of Peace J. Allen Barrett, Lykens.
Love is charged with felonious assault with intent to kill. Mrs. Wingert and Brown are charged as accessories.
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From the Lykens Standard, 9 January, 1931.
SHOOTING FRAY LANDS THREE IN COUNTY PRISON
When Pauline Wingert, a married woman of Elizabethville, told her companion, Joseph Love, colored, of Wiconisco, that Harry Harper insulted her, Love fired a .32 bullet into the left leg of Harper at the Aboff Poolroom and Dance Hall in Loyalton New Year’s Eve. It appears that Mrs. Wingert, white, who deserted her husband last August, in company with Joseph Love and Earnest Robinson, both colored of Wiconisco, were out celebrating the arrival of 1931, and visited the Loyalton place near midnight. It is alleged that when Mrs. Wingert made a remark made a remark to Harper he replied concerning the company she was with, whereupon the woman called her negro companion and the crime was committed.
Flee in Auto to Philadelphia
Immediately following the offense, Robinson took Love and the Wingert woman and made a hasty exit, driving through to Philadelphia, where the pair went into hiding. The injured man, Harper, was rushed to Lykens and to the office of Justice Barrett, where suffering from shock and loss of blood, the magistrate ordered his removal to the office of Dr. George H. Gillis in Wiconisco. Examination by the physician resulted in his being rushed to the Danville Hospital, and x-rays disclosed the bullet having mushroomed and divided into five parts after having struck the bone near the hip. He is confined in the Danville institution.
Warrants for All Three Issued.
Upon the information of Clarence Enders, constable of Lykens, Justice Barrett issued a warrant for Love for felonious assault and for Robinson and the Wingert woman for accessories after the fact. Chief of Police and Deputy Sheriff David L. Herb, with Constable Enders, and Chief Burgess Walter E. Snyder went to the house in Wiconisco tenanted by the colored people to find after a search that the trio had gone. They were told by Matty Rickert, a white girl stopping at the house, that all three left about 1:00 o’clock A. M. in Robinson’s car. The State Police called in, detached Trooper Walsh of the Homicide Squad, who reported to the local Magistrate, the following day, and the network of the State Police began to revolve. Robinson returned to the Wiconisco address about 7:00 P. M. on New Year’s Day, to be placed under arrest by Walsh and Enders.
He led the officers a merry “wild goose chase” to Pottsville, refusing to say where they were. Brought before the Justice who proceeded to commit him to jail, Robinson broke down and said they were somewhere in Philadelphia.
The teletype equipment of the State Police at Harrisburg, broadcast the crime throughout the State and hourly radio broadcasts continued. On Saturday the pair, Love and the Wingert woman were picked up in a Germantown house in Philadelphia and the local authorities notified. Chief of Police Herb and Constable Enders left at five o’clock Sunday morning for Philadelphia where they were joined by Trooper Walsh. The prisoners were tuned over to the officers at City Hall, Philadelphia, and were brought back to Harrisburg where they were committed to the Dauphin County Prison.
They were all three arraigned before Justice Barrett Wednesday evening of this week and given hearings. The defendants Love and Robinson were represented by Thomas A. Caldwell, Esq., of Harrisburg, while Assistant District Attorney E. LeRoy Keene… the prosecution. Mrs. Pauline Wingert, [was] without counsel, and plead not guilty. Love was placed under $1500 bail. Robinson and the Wingert woman under $1000 each for action of the grand jury. Matty Rickert, a witness subpoenaed by the Commonwealth, did not appear, and the magistrate issued his own warrant for her apprehension and confinement in prison until court.
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From the West Schuylkill Herald, January 16, 1931:
LOYALTON MAN SHOT IN HIP: THREE ARE HELD
Joseph Love, 27, of Loyalton, is being held in the Dauphin County Jail charged with felonious assault, Earnest Brown, alias Robinson, 37, of near Lykens, is being charged with being an accessory after the fact; and Mrs. Pauline Wingert, 26, of near Lykens, formerly of Elizabethville, is out under bail on the same charge, following a brawl at a dance hall, near Loyalton, Wednesday night of last week.
Harry Harper, 29, of Loyalton, is suffering from a bullet wound of the right hip, alleged to have been inflicted by a revolver in the hands of Love.
According to State Police, an argument developed between harper and Mrs. Wingert, the latter telling Love she was insulted by Harper. Love pulled a revolver from his pocket and shot Harper in the hip, it is said. Love, Robinson and the woman left the scene by automobile and Robinson was arrested when he returned to Lykens the following day in the machine he is alleged to have used in transporting Love and the woman to Philadelphia.
Through the teletype system the couple was trailed and Saturday night the two were taken into custody in Philadelphia. Monday, they were returned to Lykens by officers and given a hearing before Justice of the Peace J. Allen Barrett.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, June 6, 1931:
IMPOSE 8-MONTH TERM
Joseph Love, Loyalton, charged with aggrevated assault and battery, was sentenced to pay a $5 fine and serve from eight to sixteen months in the Dauphin County Jail yesterday.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, November 12, 1931:
NEGRO IN SHOOTING CASE FREED FROM PRISON
Joseph Love, negro of Wiconisco was released on parole from the Dauphin County Jail this week after serving five months of an eight month sentence.
Love was involved in a shooting affair which took place at a Loyalton dance hall last New Year’s Eve.
Love, it was said, engaged in an altercation with Harry Harper, 29, outside the hall, when he drew a revolver and shot Harper in the right hip.
He was charged with felonious assault and when he pleaded guilty, was sentenced to spend eight months in the county jail.
Harper recovered from the injury.
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Articles obtained via Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.
Wow, 8 months for pointing a gun at another person and shooting him. Should of got more time and a more serious charge then what he did. Goes to show how long the system has been broken.
Yep, plus he only had to do 5 months out of his time. Not to bad for shotting someone.