Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1873-08-25

A-T-KMPTRD LYNCHIN0:
The Geld HiIl srasisa.hssse Rniercd
BY Masked Mea, whs Attenps %
Lynch . Prissser-Ths Attempt
Defeated by Citixsas-0seas TX
eItemeat: (,
Last evening our town wasthe scene
Of an unusual excitement, owing to
the attempted lynchlng Of a man who
had been arrested and lodged In the
calaboose upon q charge Of incendiar-
ism. The following isa brief history
of the affair: At about three o'clock
yesterday morning. Humphrey Sy-
mons's house, situated In Crown Point
Rayine, was discovered to be on fire.
The gentleman who made the discov-
cry alarmed the inmates Of the
house and by the prompt appll-
cation OF q few buckets Of water
put out the fire, and thereby thwarted
the fiendish designs Of the would-be
incendiary. The fire was lighted d.
rectly In front Of the Kitchen door.
Close by q pillow.case was discovered
stuffed with shavlngs and saturated
with coal oil. There was also q plen-
tiful sprinkiing Of kerosene upon the
door and clap-boards Of the building.
Luckily the shavings were not ignited,
otherwise the building would In all
probability have been destroyed. The
bottle containing the kerosene used by
the incendiary was found on the
premises. As soon ~ the confiagra-
ton had been extlnguished, q search
was instituted, and the incendiary was
traced to the Crown Point Ravine
Shaft. Circumstances led to the be-
lief that the guilty party was a man
by the name OF Burlington, who was
engaged In driving the within. Upon
arriving at the shaft working opera
lions were found to be suspended.
The fact that an old feud has been ex-
listing between the parties working tho
mine and Symons, the owner OF the
house, lent strength to the conviction
respecting the guilt Of Burlington, and
at Z o'clock last evening, upon COM
plant Of Henry George, Constable
Tom Harkin arrested Burlington. aud
lodged him In the station-house. 1t
was the Intention Of the officer making
the arrest to bring the prisoner before
Justice Wright for an examination the
same evening. While Constable Har-
kin was waiting for Justice Wright to
return from church, at q few minutes
after 8, six men, disguised with hand
kerchiefs tied over their faces, entered
the station-house and dragged the
prisoner out Of his cell into the hall
way leading to the officers quarters.
The masked men brought with them a
large rope or cable, to n end OF
which a hangman's knot was attached.
The first aud only question proposed
to Burlington was, "Who set fire to
Symons' house?" The prisoner stated
that he knew nothing In regard to the
origin Of the fire, whereupon the
masked men commenced slipping the
moose over his head with q view Of
hanging him then and there, the other
end OF the rope being attached to the
cross-timbers Of the upper portion OF
the building. Burlington fought like a
tiger, and yelled te%rrifically. Hun
dreds Of people who heard his shrieks
hurried to the station-house. Constable
Harkin, who reached tho place a NOM
ent after the alarm was given, informs
us that there were already fifty men
or more collected about the station
house. some OF whom he thinks were
In collision with the "vlgilanters."
The latter, as soon rs the alarm was
given, decamped with the utmost pre-
c~ipltation. A gentleman who attempt
ed to unmask one OF the gang was con.
fronted with q navy revolver. Butflng-
ton Is confident OF being able to lden-
tify one OF his would-be nurderers.
His examination was arranged to take
place in Justice Wright's Court at
p. NJ. to-day.
The officers having charge Of the
station-house were u~navoidably absent
from the premises at the timc the at
tempted lynehing took place.