FOUR MEN LYNCHED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9040, 19 November 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

FOUR MEN LYNCHED.

SWIFT REVENGE FOR CRIME.

Montgomery (Ala.), October 24. News reached here to-day of a quadruple lynching, (shooting;, and burning of four negroes who had confessed to the crime of murdering Richard L. Johnson and his daughter, Miss Jeanette, after having- astaulted the latter, at their country homo, near Davis Ferry, in Monroe County, on the Alabama River, on Friday, about midnight. ,A gentleman who came from Monroeville, tho county seat, said that ever since the commission of the crime the people in that section have not left a stone unturned to ferret out the perpetrators of the murder. Ten negroes were arrested and closely examined. • The rage of tho people w.is so intense that those of the ten who were in nocenl*, fearing lest their lives should be lost, began to talk. This resulted in tho confession of four— Mou* Johnson, Jim and John Packer, and Burrell Johnston. They were all boys between IS and 23, and lived near tho home of their victims. Immediately after the arrest of the ten negroes they were taken to Monroeville and pub in gaol. The confession of the four was soon spread abroad, and a mob gathered at the gaol and demanded the keys of the sheriff. They were refused and burst in the doors, when the sheriff, being powerless, gave up the keys. The mob took the four negroes and started with them for the scone of the crime, a distance of ten miles. Before they had gone half way the feeling of revenge got the better of the mob, and on the cry of one to settle with the murderers then and there a unanimous " Yea !" made the woods echo.

Hopes were in readiness and tho four prisoners were soon dangling in tho air. Their bodies were perforated with bullet holes. Shortly after they were taken down and then burned upon a heap of logs. One of the negroes was still alive, but he was burned with the rest. Tho men then dispersed. There are other negroes thought to be implicated. Burrell Johnston confessed that ho killed Richard Johnson. The two Packers confessed that they killed Miss Jeanette. Mose Johnson did none of the killing, but helped.