The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-11-23
Horrible Butchery OF Whole Family
The Murderers Lynched'
J A dispatch from Louisville, Ky.

Horrible Butchery. OF a whole Fazniiy--
The Murderers Lynched' Z.
A dispatch from Louisville, KY,
dated the 18th inst, says:. a ~ : Z.
This morning family named Parks
were found murdered in their house
near Henryville, Indiana. The family
consisted of Cyrus M. Park and his
wife Isabella, son, John, aged ten, .
daughter, Eveline, aged seventeen, and
Ellen, aged fifteen. The heads of all
were terribly beaten and crushed with
some blunt instrument. The brains
| of Parks wife and son were scattered
about the room. They were lying in
beds. The daughters were found sit-
ting In the kitchen alive, but delirious
and fatally hurt. Shots had been
heard in the night by the neighbors,
! but the bodies bear no bullet marks
| Information was promptly forwarded
to the police here. Parks is q leading
member of the church near his house
and much esteemed in the community.
No clue has been obtained to the muir
derer. Great excitement prevails in
the vicinity, and should the villain be
discovered he Will probably be Instant
| ly lynched. bf
| A later Louisville dispatch, dated
| the 18th, says: E97 3tsnr9Fo) :
Last night the citizens of Henryyille
Ind, near where the brutal murder of
the Park family occurred Saturday
night last, put a rope around the neck
| of George johnson, a negro implicated
1 in the murder, and telling him the
| crime had been traced to his hands,
demanded to know his accomplices.
johnson, thinking all were discovered
made full confessions. Two negroes,
named Squire Taylor and j.. Davis,
planned the mul der with himself, be-
! Iieving Park had four or five hundred
+ dollars of church money. at his house.
iJohnson says he watched outside
while Davis held light and Taylor
committee the bloody deed. He says
his partners refused to divide fairly
/ with him. They got only $40. The
whereabouts of his accomplices was
learned, and party started immedi-
ately to effect their capture, which was
done. The excitement was so great
that the officers had to take the muir
derers thr ough the woods to Jeffer-
sonville, where they were lodged in
/ jail to-day. 3isf. & =
A dispatch from Louisville, Of the
18th, says:
f Squire Taylor, Charles Davis and
! George Johnson, the negroes charged
with the murder of the Park family,
were taken out of Jail at Charlestown,
Indiana, about two o'clock this morn
| ing, by mob of about forty persons,
masked and disguised, thirty three. OF
whom entered the Jail and the rest
stood guard in the streets. The, me-
groes were hung in the woods about
two miles from town, where they
were found. Taylor had been stripped
naked and burned in q number of pls-
ces, with brands from q fire the mob
had kindled, probably with the inten-
tion, as expressed by them, of roasting
them alive. 1t is strongly intiInated
that the negroes made a'confession be-
/ fore death. Taylor and Johnson were
hung on the same tree, Davis on an
other tree some hundred feet distant.
The mob was made up of citizens
from the vicinity of Henryyille, Otse-.
go, and Charlestown. "A coroner'si in-
quest was held to-day and q verdict
rendered that they came to their, death
by violenhe, being hung by parties
! unknown. The negroes had not been
indicted by the Grand Jury, and the
l. O1tALCno 1OaA CN tACy W ouk0 CbO8RO RulAe
iishment. No one attempted to inter-
fere with the mob, who had broken
into two cells with sledge haInmers,f
but the Sheriff unlocked the third
seeing that he could not keep them
liout. 1s.5A Il lI5Yf af-5
1t is now known that the negroes
hung for the Park murder all made
confessions to the Ku Klux, corrobor-
ating Johnson's first statement. Tay-
lor acknowledged that he did the kill
ing while Davis held the light and
johnson watched in front of the house.
There were only thirty-three men at
the jail, but one hundred in. the woods
where the hanging was done. A box
containing some of Parks clothing,
bed clothes and sewing machine, had
been shipped to Taylor's son-in-law,
at Chicago. Davis was sixty-five,
Taylor sixty-six, and johnson over
forty. During the Investigation it
came out that Taylor's son John MUIR
dered crippled negro named Jack, in
Charlestown, about two years ago,
shooting him at night through the
window. Taylor also confessed that
he knew his son committed the mur-
der. In the house of Taylor a consid-
cradle amount of stolen goods were
found, including much fine clothing.
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