Alabama Memory

PAID THE PENALTY WITH THEIR LIVES!

Item

Title

PAID THE PENALTY WITH THEIR LIVES!

Source Type

Newspapers

Publisher

Chattanooga Daily Times

Publication Place

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Publication Date

5/13/1897

Transcript

PAID THE PENALTY WITH THEIR LIVES! Two Young Negro Women Lynched by an Alabama - ' Mob Near Huntsville Yesterday Mornkng POISONING OF THE KELLYS BRUTALLY AVENGED Mollie Smith and Mandy White Two Former Domestics in the Kelly Family the Victims—Their Guilt Established - Beyond Doubt and One Makes a Confession ANOTHER CHAPTER IN THE The Paris Texas Lynchers Discounted by the Frenzied Alabamians —The Poisoners Used Rough on Rats and the Avengers Used a Rope HORRORS OF LYNCH LAW. Huntsville Ala May 12---The corpses of two negresses 3Io llie Smith and Mandy White are dangling from the limb of a live oak just on the outskirts of the village of Jeff near the home of the Kelly family who have been three times poisoned recently They were hanged last night by a posse of determined citizens of the neighborhood Both Women were suspected of the poisoning and upon being pressed Mandy weakened And confessed to two attempts on the lives of the Kellys the first attempt resulting in the death of old man Kelly Sheriff J P Powell has gone to the scene to cut down the bodies When the news of the lynching reached here this morning it created a great sensation and has been the topic of conversa tion everywhere today The lynchng is extraordinary as it is the first time in the history of Alabama or any other state so far as known where women were lynched - - As soon as the confession was made the neighbors and friends of the Kellys were highly incensed but law-abiding people never dreamed that anybody within the bounds of the county would undertake to avenge the crime in the way in which it was done last night The identity of the lynchers is a profound mystery here 1Cob3cly has the slightest idea as to the particular persons who thus forestalled the natural operations of the law All that is known is that last night the women were secured and this morning their lifeless bodies were found swinging in thi air Those who discovered the bodies were-as much mystified as to the identity of the perpetrators as the people here T'ae betterclass of citizens here deplore the lynching and the consequent blot it will cast upon the county and state The First Suspicious Since it was ascertained that the attempt to extirminate the Kelly family u as deliberate and intentional detectives reighbors friends and members of the lemily have been unceasing in their el- forts to apprehcnd the guilty parties Their first suspicions were directed toward Mollie Smith a colored house servant who it was learned feigned sickness -the last time the family were poisoned She became uneasy and left the place but was all the while spotted Mandy White Confesses In the meantime from the restless and suspicious actions of the Smith girls associate in the place Mandy White the latter was also suspected -Upon being pressed she broke down and rilade a full 'confession She said that Mollie Smith put the poison in the coffee the first time and in the sausage the second time but )ast Thursday night she herself put the poison in the flour from which the fatal biscuits were cooked that made so many sick Friday morning Captpre of Mollie Smith Yesterday Mollie Smith was captured in Limestone county near the Tennessee line speeding on tovard Tennessee wearing a pair of men's boots The Lynching- - Last night between midnight and daylight a posse of about twenty determined men took the criminals examined them and satisfying themselves that they were beyond doubt the guilty parties repaired to a forest near by and after giving the victims a chance to make their statements stretched them up by the neck and quietly dispersed There Are Others While there is no doubt that the guilty parties have been dispatched it is be- lieved that the instigator of the foul crime is yet et liberty The Smith negroes have long been a terror to that comma- nity Members of the family for different offenses have been in the state prison and jail In the same neighborhood twit years ago J 31 Tally lost a splendid barn by fire and suspicion pointed strongly to Molly Smith as being the incendiary Another Admission Jennie Burwell another tenant of the Kelly place last night admitted that she knew Mollie Smith was the person who put the poison in the coffee the first time and she knew she would yet poison the family - Something more startling may yet develop as there is no doubt that there was a -- Deep Laid Piot to poison the Kellzrs :No motive for the eaastardliact Cane eseznect save that Here lived Hon Joshua O Kelly a well-to-do and influential citizen fayorably known throughout North Alabama Three weeks ago the community was startled by the announcement that the entire Kelly family had been poisoned The family sickened shortly after eating supper and within twenty-four hours Joshua Kelly was dead Eleven persons including seven negro laborers were poisoned but all except Mr Kelly recovered It was discovered that the poison was arsenic which in some manner got into the coffee of which the family drank At the time it was thought that the poison got into the coffee through the agency of rats or mice Two days afterward while a 'company of eleven neighbors were sitting up with the remains of Mr- Kelly all were taken ill with symptoms of poisoning and it was thought that this was due to a quantity of the arsenic getting into the water A few weeks afterward the family was again poisoned this time the poison being in sausage May 10 the family and tenants were poisoned again in some mysterious manner There were six whites and eight negroes affected D E and Lamson Kelly became critically ill 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 the 35ther victims Incriminating evidence was found Saturday at the Kelly home at Jeff and a clew in the shape of a box of poison led to the detection of the Degreases The premises were searched end underneath the kitchen was found a box of poison On it was stamped the trade mark of D E and Joe Kelly the grocers at Jeff The poison which was rough on rats was placed in the biscuits of which all the affected persons ate HOW IT WAS DONE Details of the Hanging—Other Lynchings May Follow Huntsville Ala May 12—Mandy White made a full confession She said that the poisoning last vveek bad been carefully planned She was employed in the household as kitchen maid and threw poison into the flour while carrying it from the lock room to the kitchen Mollie Smith refused to talk A large rail was placed between two trees ropes were fastened to the necks of the women and they were quickly drawn up The bodies hung for several hours in the wind and rain and were discovered this morning by the colored mail rider Members of the mob who did the work are unknown but the story of scenes at the hanging- is public property Further lynchings may follow as it is understood that the women were not alone in guilt The real instigator of the crime) is thought to be a man If his identity is ascertained he also will be lynched

Sources for

Mollie Smith

Amanda Franks