Person:Sarah Unknown (2469)

http://www.woodlandcemetery.org

Dayton Daily Journal 14 Jul 1908 p 2 col 2

Doing Homage to Gypsy
Queen, Sarah Stanley (photograph)
The picture shows subjects and friends of the wife of Sugar Stanley, head of the Stanley tribe of gypsies, gathered near her grave, and the beautiful Stanley monument which marks the resting place of generations of the nomadic tribe.
With simple and unauspicious ceremony, totally devoid of anything suggestive of the nomadic, Mrs. Sarah Stanley, wife of Levi Stanley, and queen of the great Stanley tribe of gypsies, was laid to rest Monday afternoon in Woodland cemetery.
Out in the burying ground there is a lot on which the Stanleys, for many generations past, are sleeping, and where for many years to come, the deceased members of the tribe, no matter where death may overtake them, will be brought and returned to the earth.
Sarah Stanley's death occurred in Montgomery County, Alabama, where the tribe was in camp. The body was immediately shipped to Dayton. Accompanying the remains were Adam, Paul, Dick, Alice, and Matilda, five children of the deceased.
Several years ago the tribe was encamped in North Dayton, and is very popular here on account of their land holdings. From here the band, numbering about 450, luxuriously arranged in their palace-like cars, followed the road toward the beautiful Southland, where they have since been under the rule of Levi (Sugar) Stanley.
Contrary to anticipations, the funeral Monday was one of marked solemnity and quietness, only the immediate relatives of the deceased being present. From the Hotel Chelsea the cortege wound its way to Woodland, where the services, conducted by Rev. Daniel Berger, who has conducted all funerals and marriage ceremonies in the band for the past 20 years, were held.
The services, although over a queen of the tribe, were devoid of any tribal ceremony and the simple burial rites of the United Brethren Church were used.



Dayton Daily Journal 14 Jul 1908 p2 col2

Gypsy Camp Clan Battle Scene Tribe Camping Near Mad River Has Bloody Fight with Cincinnati Nomads After Funeral of Queen.
The obsequies over the grave of the gypsy queen, Mrs. Sarah Stanley, were followed by a pitched battle between two clans of the roving people on the outskirts of the city, near the Mad River bridge, Monday evening, in which rifles, revolvers, knives, fists, and a pitchfork figured as weapons. After the smoke of the battle had cleared away, there was one seriously wounded, another slightly wounded and any number of bruised heads.
How the trouble started was hard to learn on account of the peculiarity of the gypsies about giving out information. The first authentic news of the battle came to the officers of the law when one of the principals of the vanquished side, Bartley Gorman by name, appeared at police headquarters with a companion, bearing ample evidence that he had been in a conflict. There were plasters across his face, his head was bandaged, there was an ugly cut in the neck and the right arm had been badly slashed.
Story of a Combatant.
According to Gorman, he and his relatives and companions have been near Dayton about two weeks, camping near the Madriver bridge in tents. He denied that they were confirmed gypsies, but said they were traveling horse traders. At any rate, there was a gypsy funeral announced for Monday, and the occasion was to be carried off auspiciously according to gypsy custom. Gorman and his (sic) of the gypsies about giving out information was Monday afternoon.
There were a number of gypsies from Cincinnati on hand, and it was with these that the Gormans clashed. The two clans had met at the funeral on seemingly friendly terms, had shaken hands and passed the courtesies of the occasion, and the Gormans retired to their camp.
Camp Attacked.
They were preparing their evening meal, they said, when the Cincinnati clan, headed by two famous gypsies, Harry and Billy Harrison, swooped down upon the camp. They were armed with knives, revolvers, and one carried a pitchfork and the battle was on.
Several shots were fired and then the weapons were discarded and the antagonists closed hand to hand. There in the dusk of the evening they battled furiously for several minutes and the Harrison clan withdrew, taking their wounded with them. They hastened at once to the Union Station, where they boarded a train for Cincinnati.
Knows No Reason.
Bartley Gorman told the police that he knew of no reason why his clan should have been attacked, as all of the gypsies were seemingly on good terms at the funeral and there had never been ill feeling between them to his knowledge. He wanted arrests made immediately, but Police Lieutenant Haley told him that as the trouble occurred outside of the corporation it was beyond police jurisdiction and he would have to see the sheriff.
Gorman hastened to the county jail and was ordered to have Magistrate Terry fix a warrant for the Harrisons' arrest. The warrant had not been served at a late hour Monday night, though Sheriff Boes said the fleeing gypsies would probably be headed off before they reached Cincinnati.

1880 Federal Census. Wayne township, Montgomery County, Ohio.

Stanley Family: Levi, age 56, Sarah, age 41, Matilda, age 22, Richard, age 19, Levi, age 17, Alice, age 13, Paul, age 7, Anna L., age 6, Isac, age 1.

Also at that address were hirelings: Charley Eugene, age 18, Gottbel Schwiegabile, age 53, and John Foley, age 14