TWO NEGRO GIRLS LYNCHED
Item
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Title
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TWO NEGRO GIRLS LYNCHED
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Source Type
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Newspapers
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Publisher
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The Birmingham News
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Publication Place
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Birmingham, Alabama
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Publication Date
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5/12/1897
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Transcript
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TWO NEGRO GIRLS LYNCHED- Mollie Smith and Mandy Franks Strung Up at Jeff. - AWFUL SEQUEL FOLLOWS- The Poisoning of the Kelly Family. How the Guilty Girls Were Caught and Hanged.- A CONFESSION COMES FROM ONE- Special to the Birmingham News: Huntsville. Ala., May 12. At daybreak this morning the dead bodies of Mollie Smith and Mandy Franks, negro girls, were found swinging by ropes from tree on the side of the road leading from Jeff, Ala., to Huntsville. The hanging was done early this morning by a mob of about twenty. The crime the girls are guilty of is a story within itself. It was the repeated wholesale poisoning of the Joshua O. Kelly family at Jeff. The first poisoning occurred two months ago and resulted in the death of the head of the family. This was taken to be accidental, but on the following night several members of the family and a number of guests were again victimized. Clews leading to the guilty ones were being quietly followed when, last Friday morning, another wholesale poisoning occurred. Suspicion was directed to a house girl, Mollie Smith, who was a thoroughly depraved negro. Mollie Smith was taken into custody last night while making her way rapidly toward the Tennessee line. Mandy Franks, her accomplice, was captured at home. The place of execution chosen was at the edge of the road in a stretch of woods. Mandy Franks readily confessed that she had taken part in the crime. She said that Mollie Smith poisoned the coffee two months ago and the sausage on the following night. The confessor herself poisoned the flour last week at the direction of Mollie Smith. She did it while bringing the food from the pantry to the kitchen. The mob which did the work is unknown, but the lynching bee has been expected for several days. More hangings may follow. A negro woman, Jennie Burwell, has stated that she knew that Mollie Smith and Mandy Franks wore poisoning the family, but didn't care to tell on them. It is thought that the instigator of the crime is a man.