TWO GIRLS LYNCHED. CRUEL VENGEANCE OF ALABAMA MOB ON COLORED WOMEN.
Item
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Title
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TWO GIRLS LYNCHED. CRUEL VENGEANCE OF ALABAMA MOB ON COLORED WOMEN.
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Source Type
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Newspapers
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Publisher
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Wilkes-Barre Times
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Publication Place
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Wilkes-Barre, PA
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Publication Date
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5/13/1897
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Transcript
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TWO GIRLS LYNCHED. CRUEL VENGEANCE OF ALABAMA MOB ON COLORED WOMEN. Both Hanged to a Tree Accused of Poisoning the Kelly Family, to Which one of Them Confeued. Another Girl May Suffer. (By As-soclated Press.) Birmingham, Ala., May 13. Xljllie Sm.:h ani Amanda Franklin, two y-vur.g negro women, wt re fjur.d at day- tr. k swinging from a tree on the road Ben county. The twenty nun who had lynched them ha3 disappeared. The girls paid the penalty of death for puis-oni:;g; the family of Jo-:lrua O. Kelly, a prominent citizen of Jeff. Several attempts have been, made to poison the Ktiiy familyv;-The first was made two' months aio. Wr. Kelly and his family, of eleven persons, arose from the sup:;r table one niht suffering frjm rrible pains, and the next day Mr. Kt'lky died in great agony. It was as certained that arsenic had got into the coffu-i, but it was thought then thai it was an accivlent. Eleven persons sat up wlih the body of Mr. Kelly the night after his death. Toward mklmght they panirtik of soime sausage, and at once became ill. Fortunately there was a pnyslciaii In attendance, and no fatality resulted. Last Friday a',1 tne members of ihe family arose from She breakfast table with terrible cramps In the stomach. Although none has yet died. Scveial are et.il in a dangerous condition. This time it developed that the poision was in the bread. Suspicion was then directed to MolKe Smith, a young negro girl, who had for. merly worked in the family and a search of her house was made. Mollie had antlclpaUed the visit, and had Keliy home, was also suspected. Twenty men gathered last night. Some of ibhem started out to capture Alollie, Whom 'they overtook some ten miles away. The Franklin girl was found at her own home. In bed. She was told o gt up and dress, and go with the posse, which she did. The Franklin girl gave way when she was cross-questioned and finally made a clean breast of the whole affair. She Confessed to the last poisoning, but sold Mollie Smith had put the poison In the coffee and sausages, and had persuaded her to poison th "oread, which she did while carrying the flour of which It was made frora the patvtry to the kitchen. The Smith girl denied everything, 'even when faced with the Franklin girl, and the la-tter's confession The posse, sat. isfled of the guilt of the two girts, carried them to the woods, a short distance from Mollie Smith's house, and, deaf to tears, prayers and screams, tied ropes aoout their necks and hanged them: to a tree, waiting quietly until it was, evident they were dead. Without a Word they then stole away in the darkness. There will prcbably never be a clew to thlr identity. Jennie Barwe'l, another negress. Is In custody. She has coolly avowed that she knew the Kellya were to be poisoned, but did not care to reveal the facts. The Instigator of the crime Is believed to have been a negro man. who a short while before the first poisoning had been discharged by Mr. Kelly for Impudence. Roport has It that he, too. was captured and lynched. It la certain that all the participants in the crime they meet the same fate. So greatly are the people aroused that the law is powerless.