LYNCH LAW IN KENTUCKY AND CALIFORNIA.

Evening Star, Issue 9833, 23 October 1895, Page 3

LYNCH LAW IN KENTUCKY AND CALIFORNIA.

Two cases of lynching are reported, Yreka, in California, being the scene of the moat sensational proceedings. At Springfield (Kentucky) the administration of mob law was of the common-place order. A mob of negroes attacked the gaol, battered down the main gate, and dragged from a cell a negro prisoner who was accused of having murdered a fellow-black. He was hurried to a convenient point, and forthwith hanged. At Yreka the mob of vigilante numbered fully 250 men, variously armed and mostly masked. Assembling noiselessly at an early hour in the morning outside the gaol, they obtained possession of an iron rail and fixed it between two trees. They then cut the fire-alarm bell wires, and thus made themselves masters of the situation so far as preventing the mustering of the police. Meanwhile their movements bad aroused the under*sheriff, and he, thinking that some of the prisoners were attempting to escape, opened the gaol gate and walked outside to make an examination. The mob thereupon rushed in, and, proceeding to the various cells, smashed the locks, dragged out four alleged murderers, whose trials had been long delayed, and hanged them simultaneously from the affixed iron rail. One of the victims was accused of wife-murder, and the other three were, in the opinion of the mob, responsible for the deaths of residents in the district, the motive in each case being robbery. The men protested their innocence, but the leaders of the mob refused them permission to make any further statements. After the execution the vigilante dispersed, leaving their victims suspended in full view of the gaol officials.