Mob Lynches Four Negros

Title

Source Type

Newspapers

Publisher

Morning Times

Publication Place

Selma, AL

Publication Date

06/18/1898

Transcript

MOB LYNCHES FOUR NEGROES Slayers of Three Old People Taken From an Alabama Jail and Hanged. GUARDS ARRIVE TOO LATE Angry Citizens of Wetumpka Batter Down Prison Doors and Then String Up Blacks Charged With Brutally Killing Family. MONTGOMERY, Ala., June 17.—A telephone message from Wetumpka states that four of the prisoners taken from the jail last night were hung this morning about 9 o'clock at a point 10 miles from Wetumpka and 3 miles from the scene of the crime. The four were Sol Jackson, Lewis Spier, Jessie 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 a trial, investigating the crime and getting at the guilty ones. The negroes were taken out of jail at Wetumpka last night. The troops got there too late to prevent the jail being broken open. However, they followed the mob into the country, and telephone messages this morning showed the troops were hunting for the prisoners. It was reported that the mob had them hidden out. It was also stated that a sixth negro had been implicated and arrested. The mob was trying to find the money that was stolen and buried before lynching the prisoners. Leading citizens, it was also stated, were interceding with the mob to prevent the lynching and to secure the return of the prisoners to the jail. The crime with which the negroes were charged was the brutal murder of three aged people. William Carden, one of the victims, was a prosperous and popular white farmer, living southwest from Wetumpka. His household consisted of his wife and her brother. Tuesday night their dwelling was burglarized and the three occupants were murdered by having their brains knocked out with an ax. About $3,000 was secured by the robbers and the house was burned to the ground. The four negroes lived in the neighborhood and their actions since the murder attracted suspicion. They were arrested and carried to the jail at Wetumpka. Carden's neighbors and farmer friends soon banded and marched on Wetumpka. At 6 o'clock the riot alarm was rung by the bell in Montgomery. Those of the National guard who still remain here hurried to the armory, equipped with all manner of guns and side arms. It was one hour and a half before the 103 citizen soldiers left on their special train. Before the train was well out of the depot the news came by telephone from Wetumpka that the mob had succeeded in battering down the jail door and had started with the five prisoners to the scene of the crime. The military reached Wetumpka about 9:30 o'clock, but the mob had made away with the prisoners long before.

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