VICTIMS OF A MOB
Item
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Title
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VICTIMS OF A MOB
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Source Type
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Newspapers
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Publisher
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The Diamond Drill
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Publication Place
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Crystal Falls, Michigan
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Publication Date
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5/15/1897
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Transcript
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The corpses of two negresses. Mollie Smith and Mandy White, are dangling from the limb of a live oak just on the outskirts of the village of Jeff. They were hanged Tuesday night for poisoning Joshua Kelly, a well-known citizen. They confessed to two attempts on the lives of the Kelly family. The first attempt resulted in the death of Mr. Kelly. Sheriff J. P. Powell has gone to the scene to cut down the bodies. The lynching was participated in by 20 or 30 persons. Nine weeks ago, the first attempt on the lives of the Kelly family was made. The family sickened shortly after eating supper, and Joshua Kelly died 24 hours afterward. On May 1 the family and tenants of the deceased were poisoned again in some mysterious murder. There were six whites and eight negroes affected. Messrs. D. E. and Lamson Kelly became critically III, as did Mrs. E. Kelly. Oakley Woodward, clerk In a store, who came near dying from the other poisoning, and a Tennessee drummer who spent the night with them, were two other victims. Incriminating evidence was found Saturday at the Kelly home at Jeff, and a clew In the shape of a lox of poison led to the detection of the negresses. The premises were searched and underneath the kitchen was found a box of poison. On it wns stamped the trademark of D. E. & J. O. Kelly, the grocers nt Jeff. The poison, which was rough on rnts, was placed in the biscuits which all the affected ate. Suspicion was then directed to Mol-lie Smith, a young negro girl who had formerly worked in the family, and a search of her house wns made. Mollie had nnticipattd the visit nnd had started to Tennessee on foot. Mandy Franklin, MoIIie's successor at the Kellys, was also suspected. Twenty men gathered Wednesday night and part struck out to capture Mollie. whom they overtook some ten miles away. The Franklin woman was found at her own home in bed. She was bidden to get up and dress and go with the posse, which he did. The Franklin woman gave way when she was cross-questioned and finally made a clean breast of the whole nlTalr. She confessed to the last poisoning, but snid Mollie Smith had put the poison in the coffee and sausages and had persuaded her to poison the bread. This she did while carrying the flour of which it was made from the pantry to the kitchen. The posse, satisfied of the guilt of the two women, carried them to the woods a short distance from Mollie Smith's house and, deaf to tears, prayers nnd screams, tied ropes nbout their necks, lifted them on high and waited by quiet-l.r until it was evident they were dead. Without n word they then stole nwn.y in the darkness. There will probably never le n clew to their identity. Jennie Harwell, another Degress, is in custody. She has coolly avowed that she knew the poisoning was going on, but did not care to mention the matter. The Instigator of the crime is believed to have been a negro named Williams, who n short while before the first poisoning had been discharged by the Kellys for impudence and driven from the place. Report has it that he too was captured and lynched. It is certain that all participants in the crime will meet the same fate.