Negress Is Lynched For Poisoning Girl

Title

Source Type

Newspaper

Publisher

The Birmingham Age-Herald

Publication Place

Birmingham, Alabama

Publication Date

07/27/1903

Transcript

Daughter of a Louisiana Planter
Dies From Drinking Lemon
ade Thai Was Drugged
AGONY OF THE VICTIM
INCRESSES MOD'S FUR!
Negro Woman is Captured in a Hay
Loft and Swung to Tree by En
raged Citizens—Suspected
of Another Murder
New Orleans, July 26.—A special to the
Picayune from Shreveport says:
News reached Shreveport today that
the negress Jennie Steer, who adminis
tered poison In a glass of lemonade to
Lizzie Dolan, the 16-year-old daughter
of John Dolan, from the effects of which
she died, was lynched by an Infuriated
mob about sundown last night. The
lynching occurred on the Beard planta
tion, near the spot where the woman's
crime was committed.
Jennie Steer was stubborn to the last,
denying her crime. But the proof
against her was direct and conclusive
and precluded the possibility of her in
nocence.
It Is claimed that the negress fled frond
the Dolan household as soon as she dis
covered that her crime was known. 8he
was pursued by a posse who found her
crouching In a hayloft. She refused to
come out and had to be dragged from
the place. Asked why she had poisoned
Miss Dolan, the negress Indignantly de
nied the commission of the crime. She
was taken to the Dolan homestead and
fully indentlfled as the woman who had
placed the poison in the lemonade.
Strung to a Tree.
The mob then took her to a nearby
tree, placed a rope around her neck and
again asked her to confess. She was
stubborn to the last, however, and was
strung up without making any admis
sions. While the body was dangling In
midair several bullet# were fired into
it by t)u* enraged, citizens.
The poisoning ol Miss Dolan erefrfrrt j
intense excitement In the neighborhood i
of the crime. The victim of poison was
a beautiful young girl who was not
known to have an enemy in the world.
She died In horrible agony, a fact which
accentuated the rage of the mob. The
funeral of Miss Dolan occurred this
morning and it was attended by persons
for miles around.
There is a growing suspicion that this
negress was connected with the murder
of Mrs. Frank Matthews, whose horri
ble death startled the poeple of this sec
tion several months ago. She was a
negress of forbidding aspect but a good
servant, and Mrs. Matthews kept her
against the protests of her son and
daughter. On the morning of the mur
der she was the first one to notify the
inmates of the house of he crime. How
ever, suspicion was not directed to her,
ns It was believed at the time that Mrs.
Matthews had been assaulted and the
crime was placed at the door of many.
Another Murder Suspected.
Forter Matthews, son of Mrs. Mat
thews, said today that subsequent devel
opments Inclined both his sister and
himself to the belief that his mother was
murdered by a woman and robbery was
the motive for the crime. Thirty dollars
Mrs. Matthews had In the house at the
time was missing after the murder, and
the condition of Mrs. Matthews' body- in
dicated that she had been struck by a
woman, as the gashes were not deep,
such as the strength of a man would
have been able to make. Neither Mrs.
Matthews nor her daughter were as
saulted.
The arrest of Jennie Steer for deliber
ately poisoning a young girl, inclines the
Matthews family to the belief that If she
did not commit the Shreveport crime she
certainly knew something about it. It is
a source of some regret that the woman
was not interrogated on this matter be
fore her death. The chances are, how
ever, she would have refused to talk.
Everything is quiet In the vicinity of
Bayou Lachutte today. There is no ap
parent sympathy for the negress among
the law-abiding blacks of that section.
As far is known, this was the first ne
gress ever lynched In this section of the
state.

Sources for

Jennie Steer