LYNCHING IN AMERICA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11455, 21 June 1899, Page 8

LYNCHING IN AMERICA.

THE SOUTH ESU STATE OF FERMENT

•A despatch-•published in ' the American1 papers, dated April 24, from Newman, Ga., says: —" In the presence of nearly 2000 people/ ...who sent aloft,yeUs of defiance and shouts|of| ; joy, ;BamjHose;;a-negro, who committed two ] of the basest >acts 'known in the history of crime, was turned: at'the stake yesterday in a public road, one and a-half miles from, this city. Ihe. torch was applied to the pyre, after ; the negro. had been deprived of his ea- ; fingers, 'and-other'portions of his anatoiiy!" , Ihe negro pleaded pitifully for his life while | themutnahon wa,s going on, but stood the ordeal of'fire with: surprising fortitude. Be-; f°r.fthe.todywas eodf it Was cut to pieces; the ■bones -were crushed into small pieces, as'W : also his liver. ' Those who were unable toob- , tain the ghastly-relics direct paid their more , fprtunatevipossessors extravagant =vms for them, bmali pieces of the bone went for' 25' .cents. As", soon as the negro was dead there FfSC?. tremendous struggle among ihe iiowd: ; winch had Avitnes'secl his tragic" end to secure souvenirs.. A rush :was made for the stake, and those near the body were forced against :it,, and liad to fight for their freedom.' Knives' were, quickly produced, and the body was soon i dismembered. -Before being put to death' the1 i negro -stated ; that; he had .been paid 12dol by i il l ige;,:Sfcriekland,'-:a' negro preacher, at Pal;metto;.;toldlLCranfordf " ■'■"•; ■-■' :; -T;he; body'of.liige Strickland, the negro im-' pncated by Sam Hose, was found swinging to' the limb of a tree, about one mile from Pal-; imetto, next morning. The ears and fingers ; w«sre.cut off, and on the body was pinned a I | placard■ bearing these words: "We Must Protect-Our-Southern Women." Strickland' ;,was a negro.minister, 60 years old. The con-, jfession'of Hose caused great excitement, and: :a crowd-of men.left for Major Thomas's, '> -where Strickland .worked, and at dusk took the"rl ;negto,from the.place and brought him into , town.: Major Thomas made a speech to the .mob while they were on his farm, urging them 1 :npt to take the :negro, and saying he believed -I • the. fellow innocent.' The men would not i . t? n }° him; however, and took Strickland ■ with them. He .was brought into town and | taken to: the public square,' wTiere an im- i prdmtu'trial was held. -Everybody who < iknew Strickland was called upon to .give:: testimony:;,;as> to his character, .llierewere severaUpeople in" the crowd who :iavoured>letting-.tßfe law take its course, and .suggested that;.thoScourt adjorun to another <place a mile from-town. where several people lived-who knew Strickland. This met with approval; and -,tlie-' " court "moved out into the woods."one mile away. .Here Strickland was strung up two or three times in an effort to get .a confession from him, but each time he refused to say•' that he had any connection wjth Hope,' and denied that he had paid Hose .to, murder Cranford. .The crowd seemed to-be evenly divided."and speech-making continued* until dayligh't,'when it was decided to take ...prea-cher. to gaol .at Fairburn. This was the last. time tl\e negro was seen alive. The mob; which' lynched Strickland captured Albert Sewell, a negro, who expressed himself tor the effect that the death" of every negro should be; avenged. Sewell was'also" put to death... ■'Between 3000 ,and 4000 persons from 'Atlanta visited the sce?ne 'of the lynchings. :. i ."An' Atlanta, despatch says:—" The serieg of crimes Ayhich began with the burning of Palmetto by: incendiaries, the lynching a month later: of four negroes by the; whites of that little .town in retaliation, to be followed ten days;later'by : the .murder of Alfred Cranford and 'the' ravishing of his wtfe, for which the negro, Sam Hose",, was burned at the stake, ■has" stirred the/ .people of Georgia and the South.intoXirerizied discussion of the social problem revealed: . The question of protection for Sthe white women in the "sparsely-settled farming'districts is the topic of the day." The general: opinion appears to favour increasing the,militia, and causing the country to be'patrolled. Mrs H. Felton, who produced a sensation) by, her assertion at tile agricultural convention, two-years ago that 1000 negroes should be lynched every week, until the putrages stopped; says shY has no reason to change her opinion. ''.' ■'.. ■■ :' '