NEGRO WOMEN LYNCHED.
Item
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Title
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NEGRO WOMEN LYNCHED.
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Source Type
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Newspapers
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Publisher
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St. Louis Globe-Democrat
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Publication Place
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St. Louis, Missouri
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Publication Date
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5/13/1897
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Transcript
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NEGRO WOMEN LYNCHED. Poisoners of the Kelly Family Strang; t:p by an Alabama Mob. Special Dispatch to the Globe-Democrat. . HUNTS VI LLE, ALA.. May 12. The mystery of the Kelly poisoning, that has bothered the people of Jeff, Ala., a small town near here, for the past two months, has been solved, and two of the guilty parties have been lynched. Their bodies were found swinging to a tree . on the roadside this morning. They were women Mollle Smith and Mandy" Franks both servants in the Kelly household. The lynching was done by a mob of about twenty men early this morning, and so quietly was the work accomplished that the residents of the neighborhood knew nothing of the affair until daylight. The first poisoning of the Kelly family occurred two months ago, and at that time was thought to have been accidental. Joshua O. Kelly died in intense agony, and a party of neighbors sitting up with his remains on the following night were taken violently ill. The poisoning was then taken to be the work it conspirators, and in a quiet way the young men of the house set about to solve the mystentojts crime. Last Friday morning another wholesale poisoning occurred, and since then a lynching bee has been confidently expected. From the first suspicion has been attached to two negro women, who acted as house servants. These women were placed under a close watch. Last night Mollie Smith was captured making her way to Tennessee. She wore a pair of men's boots, and was taking herself from the neighborhood for good and all. The men who captured her took, her to the home of, her partner in crime, Mandy Franks, and aroused the Inmate. The two women were taken a short distance down the road to a stretch of woods and Informed that if they had anything to say they had better say it. Mandy Franks made a full confession of the crime, and said that she had been persuaded to do it. She said that -Mollie Smith poisoned the family the .first -.two- times, but that she .thav,c6afesso5)""'.3DOmmtted; the deed last week by placing rat poison' in the flour from" Hsnfch "biscuits for breakfast were made. She did it at the direction of Mollie White, who had been removed from the kitchen on account of the suspicion attached to her. Every detail of the crime was explained. Mandy said that the poisoning last . Week had been carefully planned. She .was employed in the household as kitchen maid. he threw the poison In 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 fastened to the necks of the women, and they were quickly drawn up. Their bodies hung for several hours in the rain and. wind, and were discovered this morning by a colored mail rider. The story of the scenes at the hanging are public property. Sheriff Fulgham and a number of deputies have repaired to the scene to make an investigation. Further lynchings may follow, as It is understood that the two women were not alone in their guilt. The real instigator of the crime is thought to be a man. If his identity is ascertained he will be lynched.