April 11, 1909: Horace Montgomery

Today we learn about a Mississippi lynching  from the pages of The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio) dated April 12, 1909:

EASTER SPECTACLE

For Church Folks Was the Body of Lynched Negro on Tree.

SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE ENQUIRER.

Yazoo, Miss., April 11.—Horace Montgomery, a negro contract jumper, who has resisted arrest and made two unsuccessful attempts to kill officers of the law after being captured on a ruse last night, was taken from jail early this morning and strung up to a tree in the suburbs.

The location of the lynching was along the road to one of the suburban churches and Easter worshipers this morning were presented with a gruesome sight by the body of the negro still dangling to a tree.

A negro guide directed the officers to the cabin last night where Montgomery was in hiding. As soon as the officers entered the room Montgomery fired at them with a double-barreled shopgun [sic], but the guide had grabbed the barrel and elevated it so the shots went wild. The negro had only been in jail about an hour when the mob surprised the jailer, overpowered him, and took the negro out.

Our article of interest is about a probable lynching in Georgia. We learn about it from The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) dated April 13, 1894:

MASKED MEN ABROAD

Farm Laborers Whipped and Women Cruelly Treated in Gordon County.

MOONSHINERS BLAMED FOR IT

One Man Is Missing and May Be Dead. Citizens Are Stirred Up and Declare That the Guilty Must Be Punished.

Adairsville, Ga., April 12.—(Special.)—One of the most outrageous cases of outlawry that Georgia has seen in many a day was enacted near Calhoun, in Gordon county, Tuesday night, on the plantation of A. M. Cox, who is a well-to-do merchant of this place. Several persons who work on his farm were brutally whipped. Harvey Barrett, who is a justice of the peace of the district in which the deed was done, was first called upon by twenty-five and thirty masked men and made to head the way of the tenant houses on the lands. The white cappers stopped on the way and made Alonzo Ferguson get out of bed and give them coal oil and cotton. They made three cotton torches by rolling it into balls and saturating them with oil. They made Ferguson go with them also.

When they arrived at the house occupied by William Ivans, it was between 12 and 1 o'clock Tuesday morning. They knocked the door down and went in, shooting guns and pistols at everyone in the house. Alf Bran, colored, was first taken out, stripped and whipped. His eyes were almost jabbed out of his head by the pistol barrels. his ears and mouth were also wounded by being hit with the guns. He was beaten until he was unconscious. Then they took turn about jumping on him. He has not been seen since, and it is supposed he is dead in the woods.

William Ivans was the next man whipped. He was first knocked down with a pistol, and then he was severely whipped. He is a brother-in-law of Cox.

Mim Ivans, son of William, was next put through the mill. He showed fight, and would not strip. He was knocked down and given a double dose, and has been in bed since.

Bud Beard's house was next visited, and his two sisters were made to get out in the yard in their night robes and made to stand there while their brother was beaten to unconsciousness. Here they also whipped Will Johnson in a most unmerciful manner.

They visited Mr. Sherman's, and, placing a double barreled shotgun at his breast, exacted promises from him, and delivered a message for Cox to him. While he was in this position, his wife was shivering from fear with pistols at her head. The cotton balls were setting the house on fire, and it was only by urgent persuasion that the house was saved from destruction. Sherman was not whipped. The men were poorly masked, wearing dresses up to their knees and cloth masks over their eyes. Bran, the negro, is the only one missing. The whole county feels outraged. No reasonable cause can be learned for the deed. All the men were farm laborers and were at work daily. The feeling against this outlawry is intense, and no citizen here will rest until the guilty are brought to justice. The outrageous way in which the women were treated makes the crime more heinous. Deaths may result, if they have not already. Those whipped were given forty-eight hours to leave the state. This occurred Tuesday morning. They are all now hid out. There may be more trouble tonight. It is rumored that a party will go from here to protect them and Cox's property. No one here is to be blamed for this outrage. It is supposed that the whipping was done by a band of moonshiners.  

Thank you for joining me and as always, I hope I leave you with something to ponder.