Rev. Thomas Irwin On Trial After He Was Kidnapped and Left in Ditch, May 2, 1922

Minister Found Bound in Ditch. . . His Funeral Sermon Over Body of Hamon Caused Split in His Church

Lawton, Okla., May 1—Plans for the church trial May 9 of Rev. Thomas Irwin, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, here, proceeded today in the absence of any action to determine who kidnapped the Rev. Mr. Irwin Saturday night, hit him on the head, chloroformed him and threw him in a ditch 12 miles from the city.

The Rev. Mr. Irwin was found by passing motorists after he had laid in the ditch 3 ½ hours. Today he repeated that he could identify none of the three men who attacked him.

Both factions in the congregation which has been split for more than a year, when the pastor preached the funeral sermon of Jake L. Hamon after Hamon was slain by Clara Smith Hamon, were discussing the incident today, but out of the discussion nothing concrete for the investigation has come thus far. This was one of the things which brought about the movement for his removal as pastor.

The Rev. Mr. Irwin later married a couple in a public bathing pool and exhibited motion pictures in his church, things which split the congregation anew. Recently the Rev. Mr. Irwin announced that certain persons were trying to intimidate him and force him to leave town, and sometime ago, he said he was approached by three men as he was leaving the church one Sunday night and at the point of guns warned to go to another city.

According to his story of (the?) Saturday night incident, he was on his way to the home of a member of his congregation at about 8 o’clock when three men stopped him and knocked him unconscious with a blow on the head. When he awoke he said he was in a moving automobile, tied hand and foot, a gag in his mouth and one of the men sitting upon him. He declared he heard one of the trio urge the others to “do away with him now,” while another suggested that they give “him one more chance to get out of town before they killed.”

Soon afterward, he stated, he was thrown from the motor car into a ditch at the side of the road and although he succeeded in removing the gag sufficiently to halt several passing motorists, none would stop and render him aid when they recognized him.

Finally five tourists picked him up and took him to the residence of Senator John E. Thomas, nearby, where first aid was administered. He had recovered entirely today.

From The Charlotte News, May 2, 1922