Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1873-06-24
The Wetzel County Lynching Case.

CIV. Va.,) Niaaicator, We copy the following
particulars of the lynching of j ohn } eunings,
the father of band of robbers in that county.
a brief notice of which was copied into our
paper last week !:
About o'clock, last Tuesday night a
party of unknown persons, supposed to be 20
OF Is in all, being painted red and otherwise
disguised. went to the house of John Jens.
nings, and after parleying few moments
gained admittancc. John, his wife and three
daughters were sleeping in the same room
down stairs, and his little son and Mr.. j esse
Morris of this County were occupying a bed
together up stairs, and were all the persons
in the house at the time these unknown par>
ties came in.
After getting into the house they inquired
for Frank aud Jack Jennings and other no.
torious characters, and were told by John that
he knew nothing of their whereabouts. Two
of the parties then went up stairs in search of
them, and after threatening to hang the little
boy if he did not tell where his brothers we're,
came down stairs again. As soon as these two
parties came down stairs John was told that
he would be required to go to town as they
had business with him, and attempted to put
a rope around his neck to lead him off, when
Johns daughters and wife, who were standing
by watching the proceedings aud almost fright>
ened to death, tried to hand him an axe
The whole party, at this stage of the game,
stepped back, and right in his own house, aud
in tho presence of his wife and three daugh-
ters, and amid all their screams and pleadinss,
fred some twenty or thirth shots, four or five
taking effect, either of which we presume
would have proven fatal; John fingered. sut-
fering the most intense agony, until about
break of day, when he expired, exclaiming,
"ALy God! my boys haze brought me to Mis!"
AS soon as the shooting began, Mrs. Jen-
nings attempted to save her husband by sac.
rafcing her own life, and amid the shooting
threw her arms around his neck and her body
between John and the parties shooting and
received two shots, one in the wrist and the
other in the thigh. Mrs. Jennings if she re-
ceives proper treatment, will recover; she
says it was her own fault that she got hurt,
for it was not their intention to injure her
This woman's devotion to her husband, al
though his second wife. all through his won>
dcrful career and tribulation, challenges the
admiration of the world
On several occasions at the risk of her
own life, has she saved that of her husband
when his life vas sought even by his own des>
perato boys.
They told Mrs. Jennings they would all be
allowed just ten days in which to leave the
country and if not gone at tho expiration Of
that time they would return and kill the last
one of them; (of course they did not include
in this threat the women and children)
After killing John they left the house and
went no one knows where.
The Tindicator, commenting on this bloody
tragedy, says:
As the Editor and Publisher of the T1ndi
GATOR, We have said nothing SO far in our paper
either for or against the application of Lynch
Law to these villains who infest our county,
robbing and plundering good and law
abiding citizens Of their money and goods,
and as our paper is read by of those
persons who harbor or conceal these scoun>
drels we would offer few words of wholc>
some counsel to all concerned either as aces
series or perpetrators Of these crimes for we
have the best of reasons for knowing that the
day of wrath from much abused and excited
people is near at hand, and woe be to every
man of the gang. We would therefore say
to j. j. and others who have harbored or con
cealcd these outlaws, that there is but one
way to escape hemp before many days, and
that is, to como forward without delay and
make clean breast of it by informing the
regularly constituted authorities all about
these scoundres and prove their sincerity by
helping to apprehend them and deliver them
up to the justice Of the law This may seem
hard to parents, but justice demands it and it
will be much better than hanging without
judge or jury by an I'M ured and excited peo-
pie. The people have borne for several years
with these outrages until Wezel county
stinks in the nostrls of our mel hbors of other
counties for fifty miles around us. Immi-
grants from other counties and places will not
buy land in this county and locate among us.
Men engaged in buying up our productions
whether vegetable animal, are afraid to
come among us lest they should be robbed or
shot down in passing from one farm to another
Our county is, therefore, thousands of dol
lars poorer than it would have been, had these
outlaws been lynched long since. We have
less right from civil and divine law to drive
these Williams out of our county into the neigh
boring counties or States, than to hang them
by lynch law when our regularly constituted
authorities are unable to give US the protec>
ton of life and property to which we are
justly entitled.
AS a christian and aw>abiding citizen, we
would counsel these penitentary convicts and
all others associated with them in their He'll
ish deeds, to abandon thei. evil ways forever
and go into parts unknown, and eat their
bread and enjoy the comforts of life by honest
industry, aud thus deal with their fellow men
as they would be dealt with, and by so doing
long life, and good conscience. and the
hope of blessed hereafter, may be secured.
But neglect this advice few days longer un-
less our citizens are all gas or set of cowardly
asses, Wetzel county nor any other county
will be moles.ed by these scoundrels no more.
The Wheeling Register of Wednesday con-
tains the following later news in regard to
these desperadoes
On Friday last the "Modocs" ordered off
five families belonging to the Jennings gang
and burned their houses to the ground, de-
stroyed the Improvements and warned the
desperadoes to leave the State and not return
under the penalty of death.
The parties thus driven out reached Bell