VENGEANCE SWIFT AND SURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7383, 18 July 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

VENGEANCE SWIFT AND SURE.

DRAGGED FROM HIS CELL AND HANGED. When intelligence reached Lyuchburg on the morning of May IS that Hairston Terry, the slayer'of Thomas A. Jeter, had been hanged by a mob at Liberty, little surprise was felt or expressed, and those who assembled arouud tiie newspaper bulletins and read tho news invariably icmarked, "Well, it's nothing more than I expected." The details of the killing of Jeter presented no extenuating circumstances, and the frieude of young Terry perpetrated the tatal blunder of publicly insinuating a defence ou a plea of iuaauity. Joseph Martin had just been acquitted of murder on a similar plea at Charlottesville, and friends of Jeter, as it now transpires, were in no humour to contemplate the probability of a like verdict. In Terry's case the authorities at Liberty had good cauae to believe that an attempt would be made to lynch Terry, aud it was in contemplation to briug tho prisoner to Lynchburg for safety, but it is said that it was plainly intimated to tho Deputy Sheriff tuat any such movement would result in the speed} , death of the prisoner. It was then given out that the prisoner would not be removed ; but, strange to relate, uo precautions seem to have been adopted to defend the gaol against attack. Mr. Jeter was buried on May 17 at his old home place, eighteen miles from Liberty, and his funeral was attended by at least two hundred people from the town and as many more from the country, and it is believed that after the interment arrangements were made by the country fricuds of the murdered mau to visit swift vengeance upon hie slayer. It is not believed that any, certainly not many, of the townspeople bad anything to do with the lynching. About half past two o'clock ou the morning of the tragedy a company of tifty horsemen rode into Liberty, and drew rein iu front of tbe Courthouse Square. Six of them dismounted, and proceeded at once to the gaol. They gained admission to the building without any trouble, the gaoler responding to their knook iu pereon. That officer is reported to have made no resistance whatever, and, in reply to the demand for the keys to Terry's cell, he told the intruders that they would have to search for them. Thi3 they did, experiencing no trouble in fiuding them. They then proceeded to Terry's cell, and took the prisoner iu charge. It is not known whether or not he made auy resistance. It is only known that he made no outcry, eitner at the prison or while being taken through the towu, aud in consequence of this many are disposed to think tnat he was gagged. So cjuiutly was the whole proceeding enacted that il id said the other prisoners in the gaol knew nothing of what was going on, aud only three of tbe townsfolk are kaown to have teen the mob. The iaen were disguised, aud not one of them was recognised. Tuey took Terry several hundred yards beyond corporate limits, on the south side of the.town, and there hung him from a limb of an apple tree, with a rope taken from the well at Jeter's warehouse. He was found swinging from the tree by a negro early in tho morning. Later friends went out and cut the body down and prepared it for burial. Terry's neck was found to have been broken. The rope had a regular hangman's knot, having been tied in the rope, and his limbs securely pinioned. Of course, the lynching created intense excitement in tho town and country, and the news was variously received. While

there was very little sympathy for Terry, there was very great regret, and in somo instances indignation, that justice was not permitted to take its proper cour3e. Terry's friends claim, with a show of reaaon, that the young man was insane, and it is surely a fact that Dr. Hunter McGuire, one of the most eminent physicians in the state, ha 3 been frequently consulted about I'erry's mental condition, and treated him for insanity. It is also said that Drs. Jones and Bowyer had also treated him. On the contrary, others assert that the whole tragedy was a resultant from Terry's intoxication, and manifest little patience with the defence interposed for the young man. The whole affair is peculiarly unfortunate and distressing. General Terry, the young man' father, is critically ill at Richmond. Aβ soon as Jeter waa killed Mrs. Terry was telegraphed for, and she visited Liberty, where she had a very affecting interview with her son in prison. She had not been there many hours before she was summoned back to Richmond by the announcement that her husband was worse ; aud in less than two hours after her departure from Liberty her eon waa taken from gaol and lynched. Hairston Terry was but twenty-three years old, and is represented to have been a quiet, reserved, and heretofore inoli'enaive person. Jeter waa about forty-five years of age, and leaves three orphaned children.