LYNCH LAW IN AMERICA.

Evening Post, Volume XLV, Issue 94, 22 April 1893, Page 1 (Supplement)

LYNCH LAW IN AMERICA.

Telegrams received from Paris, Texas, regarding the lynching at that place of the negro Smith, who had murdered a little girl, give a terrible account both of the atrocious character of the crime, and of the horrible manner in which the murderer was tortured before being finally burned to death. The negro, aftor outraging the child, had torn hfr limb from limb. He fled to Arkansas, where he was captured. He admitted his guilt, and was sent back to Texas. Meanwhile the crime had Btirred the whole country for miles around, and as Boon as the news of Smith's capture was received the people flocked into Paris by hundreds. Business was suspended, tho schools were dismissed by proclamation of the Mayor, and an immense throng gathered at the station to await the murderer's arrival. Smith was under the care of a strong guard, who, on seeing the infuriated mob, displayed their revolvers, but in view of the overj powering numbers confronting them, offered no real resistence. They were quickly swept aside, and the negro was then seized and, escorted by a crowd of about 10,000 persons, was at once taken out into the open prairie. He was bound and placed on a scaffold which had been erected some height above the ground, so that the proceedings might be witnessed by all. Here he was tortured for fifty minutes with red hot irons, which were first applied to his feet, after which they were placed again and again against his flesh, each brand being about an inch from the one beneath it right up to his face, the irons being handled by the murdered child's fither, herbioher and two ULc'.es. The negro was then drenched with kerosene, and, finally, a quantity of cotton seed hulls were placed underneath him and set on fire. A party of merchants, who arrived at Richlands (White's country) in order to purchase goods, were sleeping in their waggons, when they were suddenly attacked by a band of armed men, who murdered them and plundered their bodies. News of the outrage spread quickly, and a pursuit was organised. One of the murderers was captured and promptly hanged on the nearest tree. Three other men, who were believed to have been concerned in the crime, were, also, afterwards overtaken and caught. While they were being conveyed to the gaol an excited mob dragged them from their captors, and lynched them, also, by hanging.