The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-11-06
Crime a.se Eetr56isfi0a.
OUTRAGE TPOF7 4 LITTLE GIHI. BY DRUNK
I'm HUMAN FIRND-HE Is IYNCHED BY
INFURIATxD CITIZENS SOON AFTER.

A New York Herald CORES pontlsnt gives
the following particulars OF a fiendieh
crime perpstrated near Gibson, a small
mining village in this State, near the bouu-
dary lire and the subsequent hanging of
the william !:
Martin Groves, an ignorant and dissipa-
ted man about thirty-five years old. had
lived for years on the mountain back of
Gibson. lie was in the habit OF making
periodical visits to the village, where he
invariably became more or less intoxicated.
Drunk or sober he was always considered
a man of british and unbridled passions.
On Saturday last he was in Gibson. He
vas not very drunk, and about the middle
of the afternoon was missed. This was
something unusual, as ii was his custom to
continue his orgies late into the night be-
fore departing fer home. As his absence
was Of no importance it merely excited "A
uassinc remark. About two O'Clock on
Saturday afternoon, Mrs. Davis. the widow
of miner, had sent her daughter. about
thirteen years of age, on an orrand about
mile out or the village. She had not re-
turned at four o'clock, and her mother be-
gan to grow uneasy about her. A few
minutes after four the girl was carried into
the house by two men in an almost insen-
siblo condition. They said they had found
her lying near the road, in piece of woods,
about half a mile out Of the village. Her
clothing was badly torn, and her face bleed
ing from a large but not dangerous cut
above the left temple. When spoken TO
she opened her eyes and esSayed TO speak,
put she was too weak TO ar1iculate. Re-
cogniziug the girl. the men brought her
as quickly as possible to her mothers
house. 1t was clear that she had been
violated by some fiend, who had evidently
knocked her senseless by the blow on her
head. The mine surgeon was summoned,
and nrdor his treatment, about nire o.
clock at night the girl able tc talk.
Her sterv was that she was on her way
home after doing her erraud, and when
she reached the piece Of woods near Noon :
creek she saw Martin Groves sitting by
the side of the road. She was afraid Of
him. and stopped, undecided whether to
go through the woods and come cut in the
road below him or pass right on. His
head was hanging down on his breast rs e
he were asleep, and she concluded to go
noiselessly by him in the road Vixen she
got about opposite ts where he sat he
raised his head and then Iose to his feet
lie stepped in front of her and said
eyer afraid of me, are ye ?'
eyes, Martin said the girl, ''but please
don't hurt me-
He made no reply to this but took held
Of her by both shoulders and pushed hel
towards the woods, she screaming loudly
Tor nelp, when he struck her 2 blow with
his fist os the sids of her head, and she
, remembers nothing until coming to her
senses some time before the men found
hey. She knew she was lying in the woods,
and her condition. but too weak TO move
When this story was made known through
cut the village the greatest excitement
prevailed. 4 crowd of twenty-five men
gathered and decided upon seeking out
Groves and giving him summary Justice
They proceeded in a body up the mountain
and captured him in the woods. They
then took him down into deep depres-
sion between two of tEe lofty bills. In
that lonely vale, by the light of the moon
struggling through a heavy mist, the in
furiated miners executed the sentence they
pronounced against him, which was that
he should die. His eyes were banda xed
and his hands bound behind him. and thsn
he was hanged to the limb of "a chestnut
tree and left there until lie vas dead. He
was afterwards buried near The hut where
he had lived for years.
The outrage on the Davis giIl was not
Groves Grst crime Of that nature. The
commission Of three similar outrages was
laid At his door 10y general belief, which
had made him terror to ali women and
children. But all this does not Justify his
summary punishment, although the ger-
eJal feeling in the vicinity is that the lynch
ing was just as we'll as movited.