HANGED AT NIGHT
Item
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Title
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HANGED AT NIGHT
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Source Type
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Newspapers
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Publisher
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The Journal
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Publication Place
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Huntsville, Alabama
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Publication Date
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5/14/1897
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Transcript
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HANGED AT NIGHT. Two Negro Women Pay the Penalty for their Sins. A Body of Orderly Mn Avenge Dastardly Murder of Cpt. Joshua Kelly. the From Kvenlng Tribune Wednesday morning tho inanimate bodies of two negro women wero found aipenied front au oak In thn foret near thn recently isdly bereft and once bappy and prosperous homo of the family of the lamented Jofhim Kelly. The scene of violence was different from that which has always marked this peaceful law abiding neighborhood Bat the time for action In the Judgement of these law abiding and determined oUiztms, hod come, and the? act ed, and the two negro women are no hanging dead. Three times the effort bat been made to poison tho Kelly family. The first removed from the field of nsefuluess Joshua Kelly, one of Madison's best citisens, his wife and other members of his family and household narrowly esoipiugthe trave. The nrst effort was made by placing poison in the coffee. The second followed the first even whilo the corps) of tho lamented Joshua Kelly was iu tho house This time the sausage wu poisoned. This excited suspicion, tho snspiciou rested on Mollie Smith, tho adored house girl. Detectives were quit tly employed, and neighbors set to watching. Bat in spite of all this, a few day ago the fiend in female form got iu her wo k sixain, placing arsenic iu tho flour set apart for the next meal. From the effects of this the stricken family have not yet recovered. The suspected the house girl Moilie Smith feign ed sickness at the second poisoning, be came restless and finally left the place but was spotted all the time. Her associate Mandy White was approached and made a confession. She said Mollie put the poison in the coffee the first time and in the sausage the second time bat that last Thursday night she her self pat the poison in the Hoar which the fatal biscuits were made. Tuesday Mollie Smith was captured in Limestone County near tho Tennessee line heading for Tennessee, she was wearing a pair of men's boots. She was returned by her captors to the scene of her vicious acts. Tuesday n'ght between midnight and dav the two guilty women at the hands of heretofore law abiding men paid the penalty of death for their sins, both being hung to the limbs of a tree. It is believed that there are some inst gators of this crime yet unpunished, as it ij difficult to arrive at what motive prompted the two young negro women. The Smith negro family to which Mollie belongs is a bad family and have often been sent to the coal mines and jails. Strange as it may soein Jennie Bur- well, another negress on the Kelly farm has admitted that Bhe knew Mollis Smith was the person who pnt the poison in the coffee the first time and knew she would repeat the effort, she has been given fire days to leave the xmu- ty. There is no telling what farther de velopments may yet come from this crime or how many vicious persons partioipated. It is however safe to say that as they are discovered the rope will do its work, for there never was in Madison County a more useful, inoffen sive and asteemed family than that of Joshua Kelly.