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<p>Windows at Miners National Bank at South Franklin and Market streets in center city Wilkes-Barre were shattered when a vehicle was dynamited at 4:30 p.m. on March 28, 1935.</p><p>Mary Valentine, a teacher at Wilkes-Barre High School and the daughter of Luzerne County Judge W. Alfred Valentine, had parked and entered the bank when her vehicle was bombed. She narrowly escaped death.</p><p>&#8220;The bombing is believed to have been a result of a ruling by her father in a case involving the United Anthracite Miners of Pennsylvania. He sent 29 leaders to jail for their refusal to call off a strike at collieries of the Glen Alden Coal Company,&#8221; the Wilkes-Barre Evening News reported the day of the blast.</p><p>Charles Smith, 16, a Times Leader newspaper boy, was injured in the blast when he was struck by debris.</p><p>Pedestrians and center city shoppers flocked to the scene, the newspaper reported.</p><p>Police quickly learned dynamite had been thrown under the vehicle, a Pontiac coupe.</p><p>Within 24 hours of the bombing outside the bank, homes in Wanamie, Newport Township, Swoyersville and Plains Township were also bombed in the early morning hours of March 29, 1935, as a result of the coal strike.</p><p>Months went by without an arrest until Aug. 3, 1935, when four people were arrested but only two men, Emerson P. Jennings, of Wilkes-Barre, and Charles Harris, of Scranton and New York City, were indicted by a Luzerne County grand jury on Aug. 28, 1935.</p><p>Harris on Sept. 27, 1935, pleaded guilty to placing dynamite under the vehicle and agreed to testify against Jennings, whose trial was scheduled to take place in October 1935.</p><p>After Harris admitted guilt, Judge John S. Fine released Harris to the custody of county Detective Leo Grohowski.</p><p>While eating dinner in the evening of Sept. 27, 1935, Harris escaped resulting in District Attorney Thomas M. Lewis to seek a postponement of Jennings&#8217; trial.</p><p>&#8220;Harris escaped Friday night (Sept. 27, 1935) from the custody of Leo Grohowski who was making an investigation preparatory to the trial of Jennings,&#8221; Lewis told Judge Fine as reported in the Evening News Sept. 30, 1935.</p><p>Grohowski reported he took Harris to dinner at the Jade Inn on River Road in Hanover Township. After eating, Harris needed to use a restroom and escaped, Grohowski explained to the Evening News in a story published Oct. 2, 1935.</p><p>Grohowski was suspended and eventually retired.</p><p>Nearly 10 months after he escaped, Harris was captured in Hornell, N.Y., on July 23, 1936.</p><p>When Harris was returned to Luzerne County, he claimed Grohowski forced him to confess and plead guilty. Judge Fine permitted Harris to change his plea to &#8220;not guilty&#8221; after a lengthy inquiry, the Evening News reported Sept. 11, 1936.</p><p>Due to a conflict of interest, Monroe County Judge Samuel E. Shull presided over the trial of Jennings and Harris that began at the Luzerne County Courthouse on Oct. 6, 1936.</p><p>A jury, sequestered at the Hotel Sterling during deliberations, reached a verdict on Sunday, Oct. 18, 1936, finding Jennings and Harris guilty of placing explosive substances and causing damage and destruction of a vehicle. Jennings and Harris were acquitted by the jury of causing bodily harm to Charles Smith, the newspaper boy, the Wilkes-Barre Record reported Oct. 19, 1936.</p><p>Judge Shull on April 8, 1937, sentenced Jennings and Harris each to serve five to 10 years in the Eastern Penitentiary.</p><p>&#8220;Sentence was pronounced in one of the most dramatic court scenes in the history of the county. When Judge Shull refused both men a new trial, Jennings started into a half hour tirade against the courts of Luzerne County,&#8221; the Wilkes-Barre Record reported.</p><p>Harris broke down and wept in a chair.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Emerson-Jennings-EN-09301935.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jennings </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Emerson-Jennings-EN-09301935.jpg</photo0><caption0>Jennings </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Charles-Harris-EN-09301935.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Harris </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Charles-Harris-EN-09301935.jpg</photo1><caption1>Harris </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Valentine-car-blast-WBTL-03291935.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A picture published in the Times Leader on March 29, 1935, shows the destruction of a vehicle that was dynamited outside Miners National Bank at South Franklin and Market streets, Wilkes-Barre. Circles in the picture indicate shattered windows. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Valentine-car-blast-WBTL-03291935.jpg</photo2><caption2>A picture published in the Times Leader on March 29, 1935, shows the destruction of a vehicle that was dynamited outside Miners National Bank at South Franklin and Market streets, Wilkes-Barre. Circles in the picture indicate shattered windows. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Look Back: Vehicle bombed outside Wilkes-Barre center city bank in 1935