The Buffalo Enquirer, Buffalo, New York, Friday, June 12, 1891. Volume 54, No. 183, Page 1.
AN EDITOR ASSAULTED.
The Victim in a Critical Condition – A Sequel to a Church Quarrel.
CANANDAIGUA. June 12 – Frank L. Perry, editor of the Enterprise, published in Shortsville, Ontario County, is in a critical condition, the result of an assault committed on Monday by Parker Hickey, a farmer. The assault was the outcome of a church quarrel which began nearly a year ago. Rev. J.C. Lenhart, late pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Shortsville, was accused of brutality in his family. The accusation was made by the wife of John Pettit, a retired manufacturer who repeated stories which Mrs. Lenhart told her last summer while rusticating on Canandaigua Lake. The charges were investigated by the church sessions, and it was found that Mrs. Lenhart had foolishly given way to a fancy while ill. The statements were found to be false, and the minster was vindicated. The quarrel, however, did not close, and when Mr. Lenhart was called to a church in Dakota the Pettits followed up their persecutions by forwarding the charges to the church that extended the call. It was then that Editor Perry of the Shortsville Enterprise took up the case, defending Mr. Lenhart vigorously, and fearlessly denouncing his accusers. An article published in the Enterprise two weeks ago gave great offence to Mr. and Mrs. Pettit, and they replied in kind.
On Monday Parker Hickey, who works a farm owned by Pettit, went to the village, accompanied by Pettit’s son, with the declared intention of thrashing the editor. Perry was pointed out to him on the street, and he made a rush for him. Perry is not a strong man, while Hickey weighs 230 pounds and is built like a Hercules. Perry took Refuge in an office, but Hickey followed him and pounded and kicked him. Perry has been in a semi-conscious condition ever since, and his symptoms are such that the physicians have prepared his family for a fatal ending. His condition is critical. The affair has created a great sensation, and it is freely charged that Hickey was instigated by people who have been prominent in the church and who have actively concerned themselves in the church troubles.
The whole town turned out last night to express their confidence in Pastor Lenhart, who left this morning for Dakota. Hickey gave himself up to justice and wanted to pay a fine, but when the alarming nature of his victim’s injuries became known he fled and is still at large. The officers are after him, but he is probably in Canada. He came from Canada when he settled at Shortsville.
The son of John Pettit, who went to Shortsville with Hickey, told a friend on the way that Hickey was going down to clean the editor out, and that he was going along to see the fun.
Shenandoah Weekly Herald, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. Saturday, June 20, 1891. Whole No. 1116, Volume 22, No. 25.
NEWS OF THE DAY
Shortville, N.Y., citizens are excited over the assault on Editor Perry of the Enterprise of that town by Parker Hickey. The editor is at home in a very critical condition. Hickey has not been arrested.
