July, 1883: Regney

Today we learn about a Minnesota lynching through the pages of The Fort Wayne Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) dated July 26, 1883:

REGNEY'S RIGOR

A Minnesota Tough Taken From Jail and Lynched by a Mob.

A Lynching Party Out.

ST. PAUL, July 26.—A Miles City special says that a party of masked men proceeded to the county jail, overpowered the jailor and seized a man named Regney, whom they took about a mile out of town and hanged to the projecting end of a railroad tie over a culvert.

Regney had been jailed the day before for disorderly conduct and bore the reputation of a hard citizen, being accused of robbing and other crimes. He was bar tender in the saloon of the Cosmopolitan theatre. Two hours afterward the theatre burst into flames and was completely destroyed, together with six other buildings, among which was a large dry goods store. The progress of the fire was arrested by the brick building of the First National bank, otherwise the entire block would have been destroyed. The total loss is $50,000. It is generally thought the fire was the work of an incendiary in retaliation of the hanging of Regney.

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