August 9, 1898: Will Sanders, Dennis Ricard, Manse Castle, Rilla Weaver and Susie Jacobs

Today we learn about a lynching in Arkansas through the pages of the Harrisburg Telegraph (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) dated August 11, 1898:

The Governor of Arkansas owes it to decency, law and order to hunt down the members of the mob who lynched three men and women at Clarendon on Tuesday morning. The men who did that awful deed had been assured that there would be a fair trial and justice would be dealt out to the murderers and those who plotted murder, but the blood-thirsty Arkansans were not to be balked of their prey and they lynched their victims forthwith. We are supposed to be a civilized nation, and the people of Arkansas would resent any assertion that the men of the mob are not civilized, but they have no defense whatever.

An Arkansas Tragedy.

Three Women and Two Men Lynched for Murder.

Little Rock, Ark., Aug. 10.—The Gazette prints the following account of the lynching at Clarendon:

Five people, three men and two women, were lynched at Clarendon at an early hour Tuesday morning. All of the victims of the mob's wrath were negroes. They were accused of the murder of John T. Orr, the wealthy young merchant, who was assassinated a few nights ago. Their names are:  Will Sanders, Dennis Ricard, Manse Castle, Rilla Weaver and Susie Jacobs.

While the five bodies swung in the early morning breeze, the body of the widow of the murdered man lay rigid in death in her cell in the county jail, with only the soft, sweet voice of her three-year-old child to break the midnight silence of the gloomy jail, as the innocent little tot vainly cried for mamma.

Somewhere a young woman, once prominent in Clarendon society, is a fugitive from justice, hunted by the officers of the law, charged with murder. Her name is Miss Rachel Morris, and she is the only survivor of the coterie of seven named in the coroner's verdict as being responsible for the tragic death of John T. Orr. Mrs. Orr died by her own hands. After completely breaking down and making a partial confession, in some way she obtained a quantity of poison and took the dose about 2 o'clock Monday afternoon. She never regained consciousness. The details of the fearful work of the mob are unobtainable at this hour. At 11 o'clock Monday night the last dispatch was received direct from a Gazette correspondent. It was stated in the dispatch that ev[e]rything was quiet, the prisoners being in charge of Deputy Sheriff Milwee and that there was no prospect of a lynching before morning. It is evident from this that the lynching occurred at a very late hour and that the mob planned its work so well that their appearance was in the nature of a surprise. Sheriff Jackson was not in Clarendon when the lynching occurred, having been taken seriously ill.

Last Friday night, while making a glass of lemonade in his home, an assassin crept up to his window and fired a shot in Orr's body, from the effect of which he died the following day. Mr. Orr had just returned from choir practice at a church of whose choir he was a member, while his wife was the organist.

Blood-hounds were put on the trail, but they were unable to run down the assassin.

After an inquest, extending over two days, a verdict was returned charging Mrs. Orr, the murdered man's wife, with being the instigator of the crime. Miss Rachel Morris, Manse Castle, Will Sanders, Dennis Ricard, Rilla Weaver and Susie Jacobs, the five last named negroes, were charged with complicity in the crime. Castle was arrested Sunday and barely escaped lynching Sunday night. The mob had already gathered to swing him up and would undoubtedly have carried out their plan but for the earnest appeal in behalf of law and order made by Judge Thomas, who appeared on the scene just in time to prevent the lynching. He addressed the crowd, beseeching them to let the law take its course and promised that the accused should have a speedy trial.

Castle was accused of firing the shot that killed Orr, but he denied his guilt. According to his story, one of the negro women involved in the case had told him that Mrs. Orr wanted her husband killed and would pay $200 to have the deed done. Castle agreed to the proposition, but later weakened and turned the job over to Ricard. Ricard likewise denied his guilt and accused Castle. The negro women in the case had been employed as cook and servant in the Orr household, and it was shown at the inquest that they had simply acted as agents of Mrs. Orr in securing a man to do the murder. What connection Miss Morris had with the case is not clear from the information at hand.

After the arrest of Mrs. Orr and the five negroes Mrs. Orr made a confession. She admitted that she had said to her cook that she wished her husband dead and that she would be willing to give $200 to anybody to kill him. But she denied that this was uttered while in a fit of anger and that she was innocent of any criminal intention. Her husband abused her, she said, and once struck her and she, being of high temper herself, sometimes said on anger what she did not mean.

John Orr was, several years ago, a theatrical man, and in 1890 was manager of a theater of a small Wisconsin town. There he met and married his wife. The marriage was clandestine and the bride's parents were bitterly opposed to it. The Orrs lived happily but a short time. Both were hot-tempered and quarrels were frequent. A few years ago they settled in Clarendon, where the husband engaged in business. He prospered and was considered wealthy at the time of his death.

A three-year-old daughter, the only issue of an unhappy marriage, is left an orphan.

How the Lynching Was Done.

St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 10.—A special to the Post-Dispatch from Gray, Ark., gives the particulars of the lynching at Clarendon as follows:

"At midnight the mob composed of 300 citizens visited the Monroe county jail at Clarendon, took therefrom four colored prisoners charged with the murder of John T. Orr and lynched them. The mob was a most orderly one, not a word being unnecessarily spoken and not a shot being fired. They marched to the jail and demanded the keys of Deputy Sheriff Frank Milwee, who was in charge. He at first refused their demands, but seeing their earnestness, turned over to them the keys. A committee of the mob went inside the jail and brought out the prisoners, Manse Castle, Saunders, Dennis Record [sic] and the negro cook, Rilla Weaver, Susie Jacobs not being included. They were taken to the old mill, near the river, a few hundred yards from the jail, strung up and with placard attached to their bodies. Mrs. Orr, believing that she would meet death at the hands of the law, took poison. She died late yesterday afternoon in the jail.Just before she lapsed into unconsciousness she willed all her property to her little daughter, Neva, and placed it in trust with the Clarendon lodge, Knights of Pythias, of which her dead husband was a prominent member."

The Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N. C.) dated August 11, 1898:

THE ORR MURDER IN ARKANSAS.

Tragic Denouement of the Assassination of a Wealthy Merchant of Clarendon.

FIVE NEGROES LYNCHED.

Mrs. Orr Committed Suicide in Jail, After Making Confession—Story of the Crime—A Young Society Woman Implicated.

By Telegraph to the Morning Star.

LITTLE ROCK, ARK., August 10.—Five negroes are hanging from the limbs of trees near the railroad track and the widow of John T. Orr is dead in her cell. This is the tragic denouement of the assassination of John T. Orr, a wealthy merchant, at Clarendon, a few nights ago. The wife died from a dose of poison, self-administered, while the negroes, her associates in crime, were strung up by a mob of citizens.

The lynched are Manse Castle, Dennis Ricard, Rilla Weaver, Susie Jacobs and Will Sanders.

At midnight a mob, composed of three hundred citizens, visited the Monroe county jail at Clarendon, took therefrom the prisoners charged with the murder of Orr and lynched them. The mob was a most orderly one, not a word being unnecessarily spoken and not a shot being fired. They marched to the jail and demanded the keys of Deputy Sheriff Frank Milwee, who was in charge. He at first refused their demands, but seeing their earnestness, turned over to them the keys. A committee of the mob went inside the jail and brought out the prisoners and hanged them to the tramway of the Halpern saw mill, which stands about one hundred yards in the rear of the jail.

The Murderers.

Will Sanders was the one who fired the shot that killed Mr. Orr; Rilla Weaver was the mother of Sanders, and cook in the Orr household; Dennis Ricard was the "hoo-doo doctor and conjurer," who tried to poison Orr with boiled snake heads; and Manse Castle volunteered to do the job and transferred it to Sanders. Miss Rachael Morris, accused of being an accessory before the fact, has disappeared and her whereabouts are unknown to the officers.

A placard bearing these words was attached to the bodies:  "This is the penalty for murder and rape."

The negroes remained where they were hung until 9 A. M. to day. Great crowds viewed the sight. The negroes seem to endorse the lynching and many of them are open in their expressions of satisfaction over the death of Dennis Ricard, whose arts of hoo-doo and conjuring made him an object of dread to them.

While the five bodies swung in the early morning breezes, the body of the widow of the murdered man lies dead in her cell in the county jail with only the soft sweet voice of her three-year-old child to break the midnight silence in the gloomy cell, as the innocent little tot vainly cried mamma. Somewhere a young woman, once prominent in Clarendon society, is a fugitive from justice, hunted by the officers of the law, charged with murder. Her name is Miss Rachael Morris and she is the only survivor of the coterie of seven named in the coroner's verdict as being responsible for the tragic death of John T. Orr.

Mrs. Orr died by her own hand. After completely breaking down and making a partial confession, in some way she obtained a quantity of poison and took the dose about 2 o'clock Monday afternoon. She never regained consciousness.

Story of the Crime.

Last Saturday night John T. Orr was assassinated while making a glass of lemonade. He had just returned from choir practice where his wife was organist. The crime was shrouded in mystery, until Miss Morris told somebody that she knew who fired the shot.

After a coroner's inquest extending over two days, a verdict was rendered charging Mrs. Orr, the murdered man's wife, with being instigator of the crime. Miss Rachel Morris, Manse Castle, Will Sanders, Dennis Ricard, Rilla Weaver and Susie Jacobs, the five last named negroes, were charged with complicity in the crime.

Mrs. Orr's Confession.

After the arrest of Mrs. Orr and the five negroes, Mrs. Orr made a confession. She admitted that she had said to her cook that she wished her husband dead, and that she would be willing to give $200 to anybody to kill him. But she said this was uttered while in a fit of anger, and that she was innocent of any criminal intention. Her husband abused her, she said, and he once struck her, and she being of high temper herself, sometimes said things in anger that she did not mean.

Mrs. Orr, seeing that she would meet death at the hands of the law, preferred another route and consequently took poison. She died late yesterday afternoon in jail. Just before she lapsed into unconsciousness she willed all her property to her daughter Neva and placed it in trust with the Clarendon Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of which her dead husband was a prominent member.

John Orr was several years ago a theatrical man and in 1890 was manager of a theatre in a small Wisconsin town. There he met and married his wife. The marriage was clandestine and the bride's parents were bitterly opposed to it. The Orrs lived happily but a short time. Orr prospered and was considered wealthy at the time of his death. His life was insured for $5,000.

It appears from letters received by Mrs. Orr in the name of her cook, Rilla Weaver, through whom all the correspondence was conducted, that Mrs. Orr and Rachael Morris were to remain here until Mr. Orr's insurance money was collected, and then go to New York where they were to meet two men and form a theatrical company. Mrs. Orr was also in correspondence with other men.

An article in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, N. Y.) dated August 10, 1898 mentions that five people were lynched in the following excerpt:

FOUR PERSONS LYNCHED.

. . . Four people, three men and one woman, were lynched at Clarendon at an early hour this morning.

Such was the startling news reaching Little Rock shortly after 1 o'clock. Every effort to confirm the news was made by the Gazette and although telegraph communication was suspended for the night and it was impossible to reach a correspondent, all doubt about the truth of the report was cleared away when at 3 o'clock this morning the telegraph operator in the Cotton Belt Railroad office at Clarendon was reached.

"Is it a fact that a lynching has occurred there?" he was asked.

"Not just one, but five," he clicked back. "I saw the bodies myself. Four of them are hanging to a limb of a tree not far away and a few yards further the body of the fifth is dangling from a gallows of the same kind.". . .

No articles really explained what Susie Jacobs was accused of and it was hard to tell if she was even lynched. The correspondent reported seeing a fifth person who was lynched so we can assume that the fifth person was indeed Susie Jacobs. 

Side note:  One of the men that Mrs. Orr, formerly Mabel Barker, was in correspondence with was Arthur C. Archer, the Mayor of Caldwell, Ohio. A letter from him arrived after Mrs. Orr was arrested, enclosed in the letter was a picture of him and he wrote of visiting her for a month. He was embarrassed once it came out in the papers that he had been writing to a murderess and he made a statement that he didn't know her real name and it was all in fun.

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

June, 1895: Attempt to lynch Tom Harris

This Thanksgiving, I've decided to feature a lynching that led to wounded but no apparent dead. We first learning about the trouble brewing through the pages of The Inter Ocean (Chicago, Illinois) dated June 7, 1895:

HIS TEACHINGS OBJECTED TO.

Man Preaching to Alabama Negroes Ordered to Leave the Country. 

Tuskegee, Ala., June 6.—About twenty of the best citizens of this town gave Rev. Mr. Kelly, a white man, of Ohio, a surprise party at 7 o'clock yesterday evening by calling on him and informing him, through their spokesman, Dr. W. J. Gautier, that his presence here was obnoxious and disgusting to the white people of Macon County, and especially to the citizens of Tuskegee, and that he must leave Tuskegee and Macon County on the first train that passed Chehaw, the railroad station, at 1 a. m., or abide the consequences. Kelly is a white man pretending to be a minister. He claims that he was "called" to preach to the negroes of the South. He has been holding a protracted meeting here in the negro church for the last ten days, eating, sleeping, and mingling altogether with the negroes, and making his headquarters with Thomas Harris, where he was found by the committee that waited on him. He is teaching and practicing social equality, which will never be submitted to by the people of this section.

Our next article comes to us through the pages of The Richmond Planet (Richmond, Virginia) dated June 22, 1895:

A MOB'S FURY.

COLORED MEN SHOT DOWN. 

Alleged Social Equality, the Cause.

PHYSICIANS REFUSE TO ATTEND THE WOUNDED COLORED MAN WHO ENTERTAINED A NORTHERN WHITE MAN.

Tuskegee Institute Closes its Doors upon the Hunted Unfortunate.

[Tuskegee, Ala., News, (white) June 13]

Last Saturday night about 10 o'clock the residents of Tuskegee were startled by a wild hubbub in the N. E. end of the city—a furious barking of dogs was accompanied by other sounds of a more startling nature—Suddenly four or five pistol shots rang out on the air, followed by agonized screams of women, and a man's voice shrieking in pain. It was terrible to listen to:  "Help! Help! My God, they have killed him—Oh they have killed him!" These words shrieked over and over soon drew a crowd of men and boys to the residence of Mr. John Alexander where it had been found that Mr. Alexander had been accidently [sic] shot and was supposed fatally wounded by a mob of masked men who had entered his premises in pursuit of Tom Harris, a notorious mulatto man, Negro lawyer and rather a seditious character, who had against Mr. Alexander's orders taken refuge within his home from a pursuing mob. Tom Harris is a very ambitious and rather an idle Negro man, extremely unpopular with his own race on account of his airs of superiority, and having little influence with them.

THE EXTENT OF HIS OFFENDING.

So far as known he has never been guilty of any crime whatever,  but his impudent utterances and insolent bearing have made him very obnoxious to the white people, and once before now he has had to leave the city on a prolonged stay. He purchased some years ago a very comfortable home for his family—the Hayden residence in the immediate vicinity of Mr. Alexander's home, and there his family reside. His wife is considered a model colored woman, she is industrious, virtuous and thoroughly orderly in every respect and has endeavored to raise her large family of children with propriety. His eldest son, Wylie, is a well-known young yellow man who has a butcher's shop here. Some two or three weeks ago a yankee preacher named Kelley appeared in this county.

THE NORTHERNER'S VISIT.

He put up with respectable citizens at Cross Keys and was told that he might preach to Negroes, but that in this part of the country social equality was not tolerated. He conducted himself accordingly there, but coming to Tuskegee he was entertained at Tom Harris' house, and it is said walked the streets between two of Harris' daughters, holding an umbrella over them. It is also stated that he preached social equality, and from the pulpit denounced certain citizens of this place, calling no names but making such pointed remarks that there could be no doubt of his meaning, and that Tom Harris had given him the dots.

LAWLESS CITIZENS ASSEMBLE.

A meeting of citizens was called in which all rash suggestions were voted down, but it was resolved that a committee of citizens should go to the house of Tom Harris and order the yankee to leave our city within six hours. This was accordingly done. It was well and good, and the matter should have ended there. But Saturday night a letter was taken home by Wiley at a late hour 

(probably from the Post-office) and the Negro could scarcely have had time to have made an escape after receiving it before the arrival of the mob at his house. Instead, however, of immediately retreating from the neighborhood he took the letter over Mr. Alexander's and calling from the front gate requested to see him, Mr. Alexander was at the time seated on his front gallery with his daughters.

ASKING ADVICE OF A NEIGHBOR.

He stepped into the road and Tom Harris told him of the letter and asked his advice, directly looking down the moonlit road claimed, "There they are now, coming to kill me!" and rushed into Mr. Alexander's front yard. Mr. Alexander seeing the approach of several masked men, recognized the danger to his family and rushed into the yard attempting to run Tom Harris out, at the same time calling to the men not to shoot for fear they might kill or frighten his daughters. The mob however, not to be deterred from their purpose rushed into the yard and one of them putting his pistol within a foot of Harris fired meaning of course to kill him.

ANOTHER GOT THE BULLET

The Negro squatted in time to avert the shot which struck Mr. Alexander  (who was immediately back of him trying to evict him from the premises,) hitting him in the throat, the ball ranging toward the spinal column where it lodged. Other shots followed in immediate succession and Tom Harris was wounded in the leg and fell as he was running down the road, and it is said the bone was shattered. The screams of pain were from the wounded Negro who called loudly for help, but no attention was given him excepting by his family who gathered around him, though in the crowd that rushed to the scene were several medical men who proceeded to render Mr. Alexander all the assistance in their power.

WOUNDED THE WRONG MAN.

It was thought at first that Mr. Alexander was mortally wounded. He is said to have borne himself with wonderful coolness and nerve, and though probing for the ball was unsuccessful he has rallied, to the surprise of all, and bids fair to recover. If he does it will be due in large measure to the devoted attention he has received from our medical men, who, as well as every other citizen of this community, feel the greatest sympathy for him in his suffering and for his family in their anxiety and distress.

NO WHITE DOCTOR WOULD ATTEND HIM.

Failing to get any white doctor to attend his father, Wylie Harris took him over to the Normal School that night, where however he was not received, for Booker T. Washington, the president of the Negro school has ever conducted himself and his school in the most prudent and conservative manner, and learning that a mob was in pursuit of Harris he told him that he could not be admitted there. What has become of Harris we do not know. That he is painfully wounded is certain, and after the vindictive demonstration to which he has lately been subjected, it is scarcely probable that he will ever again attempt to make his residence in this city. The lawless action of these masked men cannot, be too severely condemned.

MR. HARRIS HAD DONE NOTHING.

The first place Harris had done nothing to make him amendable to law. Personal dislike and a vindictive feeling of animosity give no excuse for any attempt on a man's life be he white or black. In the second place the unlawful entering of the premises of Mr. Alexander and shooting him, an entirely innocent person, even though it claimed that hurt to him was not intentional, was a most unprecedented outrage, and we call upon the Sheriff of Macon County to do his duty in this matter. If he will, we believe that he can

The same edition included the following statement which echoes with sentiment heard more recently:

Editorial Opinion.

The shooting of Mr. Edward Harris, at Tuskegee, Ala. on the 8th inst. by a mob of lawless white men was outrageous. He should have been armed and have shot down his assailants.

We shall await to hear the explanation of Prof. WASHINGTON with reference to his refusal to admit the wounded man. The institution should have been used as an asylum in this case and its doors should have been a mighty bulwark against the assaults of these lawless parties.

    

It was difficult to find, in a newspaper, if either man died as a result of the attempted lynching. I did however check the 1900 US Census for Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama and discovered a John Alexander, white, living with his family and having a neighbor Thomas Harris, black, living with his family. Their ages fit for them to possibly be the same men, but whether or not they were is merely conjecture.

I hope you have an enjoyable holiday. Thank you for joining me and as always, i hope I leave you with something to ponder. 

December 16, 1893: Henry Givens

Today we learn about a Kentucky lynching through the pages of the Crittenden Press (Marion, Kentucky) dated Dec. 21, 1893:

Over in Hopkins.

(From the Hustler.)

On going to press news comes from Nebo that a negro by the name of Henry Givens was yesterday morning found near his home two miles west of Nebo, tied to a tree with his body riddled with shot. His skull was crushed, both eyes shot out and his body generally, especially about the abdomen, was terribly mangled. The negro is said to have a bad reputation in the community. Coroner Rodgers went down yesterday to hold an inquest, but has not yet returned. We understand that the negro had attempted to poison several different persons, both white and black. Up to the present there is no clue to the ones who mobbed him.

JUDGE LYNCH'S WORK.

Body of Henry Givens, Colored, Found Hanging to a Tree.

Henderson, Ky., December 16.—Henry Givens, colored, was lynched near Nebo, Foster county, early this morning. Givens was accused of poisoning stock and with the intention of poisoning a school well. Last night he was ordered to leave town, but drew a pistol on the self-appinted [sic] committee. This morning his body was found tied to a tree and filled with bullets.

May 20, 1892: Arthur Burrows

Today we learn about a lynching in Texas through the pages of The Evening World (New York, N. Y.) dated May 21, 1892:

A Texas Way of Lynching.

(BY ASSOCIATED PRESS)

HOUSTON, Tex., May 21.—At Midway, Madison County, last night, a mob went to the house of Arthur Burrows, who was accused of ruining a young girl of the neighborhood and shot him five times, killing him instantly.

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

May 2, 1903: W. J. Mooneyhon and D. M. Malone

Today we learn about a lynching in Missouri through the pages of the Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania) dated May 6, 1903:

SHOT "SANCTIFIED" MAN.

So-Called Preacher and Constable Killed in Missouri.

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo., May 5.—D. M. Malone, a preacher of the so-called "sanctified" sect, and Constable W. J. Mooneyhon were killed by a mob at Mooneyhon's home at Wardell, twelve miles west of here, Saturday night.

Malone and Mrs. Mary Frill, a "grass" widow, were under arrest and held by Mooneyhon. Mrs. Mooneyhon witnessed the tragedy, as did several of the neighbors, but none of the mob offered violence to either of the women.

The killing was the result of a determined crusade of proselytizing by a sect who called themselves "sanctified," and profess to live entirely "by the laws of Grace," and without regard to the statutes, which they regard as an unseemly attempt to interfere with personal liberty and the right of the Almighty to direct the paths of his people.

The sect has no real organization, and its members are called "come-outers," because when they become "sanctified" they come out from all such entanglements as church members.

Malone has been busy in missionary work for this sect. recently he met Mrs. Frill and they became attached to each other. For several weeks, it is asserted, Mrs. Frill lived at Malone's house.

But Malone had a wife already, Mrs. Mary Malone. She objected to the new arrangement and threatened prosecution. Malone informed the officials that his wife was insane and at his request she was brought to jail here, to be held pending an inquiry into her sanity.

Neighbors swore out warrants for Malone and Mrs. Frill, and Constable Mooneyhon went to serve it Wednesday. Malone, who was heavily armed, met him and forced him to leave the place.

On Saturday Mooneyhon returned with reinforcements and arrested both the man and the woman.

The hour was late and Mooneyhan decided to keep his prisoners at his home until the following day, when he intended to bring them to Caruthersville. That night, about 11 o'clock, Mooneyhon responded to a knock at his door and was shot dead. The mob rushed into the house, found the preacher and dragged him into the hall, where they shot him dead. They then dragged Malone's body into the woods nearby and riddled it with bullets. They offered no violence to Mrs. Frill or to Mrs. Mooneyhan, who witnessed the tragedy.

Mrs. frill was brought to jail here. She loudly denies charges affecting herself and Malone. They were missionaries in the same cause, she declares, and they did nothing for which they should be punished.

The entire country is thoroughly aroused over the affair. Whether arrests can be made when Sheriff Franklin visits Wardell is doubtful, though he has several definite clues. It is possible that more violence will be shown others of the "sanctified" sect who have offended the ideas of propriety generally held in the Wardell neighborhood.

According to your dictionary a grass widow is a woman whose husband is gone for long periods of time or who is divorced/separated from her husband. Thank you for joining me and as always, I hope I leave you with something to ponder.

February, 1902: Thomas Williams

Today we learn about a lynching in West Virginia through the pages of the Alexandria Gazette (Alexandria, Virginia) dated February 5, 1902:

Double Tragedy.

The attempt of the colored population of Glen Jean, a mining town on Loup creek in Fayette county, W. Va., to drive from their midst Thos. Williams, an "herb doctor", if their own race, led to a double killing Monday night. Williams lived in a tenement house belonging to the Collins Collier Company. He was visited by a mob late in the night and after being called to the door was shot to death. Williams before dying returned the fire, but it was not known that any of the shots from his gun had taken effect until yesterday. A negro named Mose Allen was found some distance from the scene with a bullet hole through his stomach. He claimed that he was struck by a stray bullet as he passed along the road. When found he was almost frozen and he died yesterday afternoon. Williams moved to Glen Jean recently from Tennessee and he was greatly feared by the superstitious darkies, who looked upon him as a "conjurer." This is the only reason that can be assigned for the shooting. The county authorities are investigating the affair.

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

October 5, 1901: Five Negroes

Today we learn about a Texas lynching from an unusual article found in The Anaconda Standard (Anaconda, Montana) dated October 13, 1901:

Spreading the Gospel of Lynching

When a city of the dignity, polish and smug respectability of Helena goes a-lynching, it sets an example which communities of inferior culture are quick to imitate with such variations, revisions and extensions as local exigencies may suggest. No sooner was the news of Helena's recent fantasia on a telegraph pole carried to the four quarters of the United States than the lynching spirit instantly revived wherever it happened to be lying dormant, and clamored furiously for exercise. It was another illustration of the involuntary hypotism of the lower intelligence by the higher.

Especially peculiar were the effects of Helena's lullaby on the inhabitants of Harrison County, Texas. Lynching has always flourished in Harrison county, and this year had already witnessed an average crop of hanged negroes. But the moment Harrison county read of the Helena masterpiece its thirst for lynching became an uncontrollable passion and the entire white population began walking up and down the earth, seeking raw material. It so happened that the negroes were on their good behavior. They hadn't committed a heinous crime in days. Whether or not the Helena lynching had exercised upon them a powerful deterrent influence, or whether  their streak of morality was a mere coincidence, certain it is that they were conducting themselves with exasperating exemplariness; and the white men's committee on supplies reluctantly reported that there were none in sight.

The report of the committee was rejected as a self-evident absurdity. Supplies? The land was flowing with them. Casus lynchi? There was an abundance of it on every hand. The negroes, many of them, had not harvested the cotton crop. They had taken up land on shares, and the planters being unable to get their part of the yield through the laziness of the renters were justified in lynching at least a portion of them without further ado.

Five of the laziest blacks in the county having been selected for the purpose, the exercises passed off pleasantly and without a single hitch except the few necessary to the ropes.

The extension of lynching as a punishment for every crime, misdemeanor and conceivable moral transgression that a negro may commit offers a ready solution to the race problem. It also, from a lyncher's reasoning, possesses the merit of being eminently and incontrovertibly logical.

The Helena lynching referred to was the October 2, 1901 lynching of James Edward Brady for the assault of 5 year old Ida Pugsley.  

The Suburban Citizen (Washington, D. C.) dated October 5, 1901 features an article with more information on the lynching:

FIVE NEGROES LYNCHED.

Revenge for the Murder of Texas Planter—Race War On.

Dallas, Tex. (Special).—The details are just beginning to reach Dallas of a race war in Harrison county, starting near Hallville, and spreading in all directions, in which five negroes have been lynched since Saturday.

The trouble is said to have started because negroes who had rented cotton lands from rich planters refused to harvest their crops or permit the planters to get their share of the yield.

A posse of white men, it is said, went to the house of a negro, Thomas Walker, on the plantation of Julian Atwood. Walker fired on the white men, killing Atwood.

During the early part of the chase that followed one negro was caught and hanged and two more were hanged on Sunday in the timber near the Gregg county line, George Muckleroy was taken out at night, near Marshall, and whipped to death.

Taking it for granted that Thomas Walker has been lynched, the number of negroes killed is five, and Julian Atwood, the white man, makes the sixth victim of the tragedy.

All that has happened has taken place in a district not covered by telegraph or telephone, and such details as have come to hand are from responsible parties at Long View and Marshall. The people of the counties of Harrison and Gregg, both whites and blacks, are reported to be in a frenzy of excitement, and more lynchings are likely to occur.

The white men declare the black renters have not only refused to gather their crops on shares, but have swindled them out of money loaned during the season with which to purchase supplies.

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