ARKANSAS.
MONTICELLO.
Buck Hunter Lynched.
ARKANSAS CITY, Dec. 2.—Early yesterday morning a party of masked men surrounded the jail at Monticello, the county seat of Drew county, and demanded from the jailer the surrender of Buck Hunter, colored, who was charged with assault with intent to kill two respected citizens of that county.
Finding that resistance would be worse than useless, the jailer surrendered the key to the cell in which the man was confined, and the mob seized Hunter, placed a rope around his neck and led him out into the suburbs of the town and strung him up to a limb.
To make sure of the work they then emptied their shotguns into the suspended body.
They dispersed so quietly that very few of the citizens of the town knew that the lynching had been done until daylight, when Hunter's body was found where the mob had left it.
When I first read the headline I thought they lynched a poacher until I read the article and found the man's name was Buck Hunter. There are many instances when the jailer or sheriff took their duty very seriously and some even suffered death to protect the men in their charge. Unfortunately, this is a case where the jailer thought less of his duty. Some time in the future I would like to post articles where the officer, or his family, tried to protect the prisoners. It is good to remember that some people did try to protect the unfortunate victims of lynching.
Thank you for joining me and as always, I hope I leave you with something to ponder.
Would you happen to know where exactly he was lynched or where I could find that info?
ReplyDeleteI don't know exactly where he was lynched, but you may find more information looking through newspapers of the time in that area. Historical societies and archives may also be useful.
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