Mob Lynched Four Negroes

Title

Source Type

Newspapers

Publisher

Birmingham News

Publication Place

Birmingham, AL

Publication Date

06/17/1898

Transcript

MOB LYNCHED FOUR NEGROES. Jail Broken open at Wetumpka Last Night. TROOPS SENT TO SCENE. But the Mob Had Already Gone With Its Prey and Strung Them Up This Morning.
LYNCHERS MADE AN INVESTIGATION. Special to the Birmingham News. Wetumpka, Ala., June 17.—Upon last Tuesday night William Carden, wife and brother-in-law were murdered, robbed and burned at their home about seven miles north of this place. Four negroes were arrested suspected of having committed the crime and were lodged in jail at this place and were being held here to await an investigation. Last night, however, a large mob from the country assembled and battered down the doors of the jail, broke open the steel cages and took the men out of the scene of the crime. There were about 1,000 men assembled and after a confession of guilt by two of the negroes and a statement that implicated the other two, the infuriated mob took the negroes to a neighboring tree and swung them to a limb. The cooler heads here tried to persuade the mob to let the law deal with the criminals, but to no avail. They were determined and no argument could change their purpose. The affair is much regretted by the people here, who are for law and order. TROOPS WERE OUTWITTED. Montgomery, Ala., June 17.—11:30 a.m.—A telephone message from Wetumpka states that four of the prisoners taken from the jail here last night were hung this morning about 9 o'clock at a point ten miles from Wetumpka and three miles from the scene of the crime. The four were Sol Jackson, Lewis Speir, Jesse Thompson and Camp Reese. The troops from here did not succeed in locating the prisoners, as the country is hilly, rough and wooded. The most of the night and this morning were spent in a sort of trial investigating the crime and getting at the guilty ones. It is stated that a sixth negro has been implicated and arrested. SAYS FIVE WERE LYNCHED. Atlanta, Ga., June 17.—A special from Montgomery, Ala., says: The men who murdered Mr. Carden and his wife, and an old man named Carlee, recently, near Wetumpka, were lynched at 9 o'clock today. Last night Gov. Johnson received a message from the Sheriff that a mob was assembling and he feared his prisoners would be taken from him, and asked for troops. The Governor soon got together about ninety men of the local militia and sent them to Wetumpka on a special train. Before they reached there, however, the mob had secured the prisoners—five in number—and took them to the scene of the murder. Four of the negroes confessed to having participated in the crime, and one of them told where he had hid the money. He was compelled to find it, and in a few minutes near the scene of their crime all five were swung up and their bodies riddled with bullets. The militia was unable to follow the mob last night, as they were all well mounted and no means of conveyance were at hand to take the soldiers after them. This morning efforts were made to find the negroes and news came over the telephone from Wetumpka that they had been found swinging from a limb.

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