The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-09-30

soon as possible afterward, and all evening
long, wagon after wagon tollo~ed one an
other on a mad run, each afraid they would
be too late.
THE MOB SEQUEL.
Early Saturday morning the storm which
had been muttering began to gather In Sc
rious earnest. Excited knots of people col
leeted here and there in Bellefontaine, along
the pixies and at Huntsville and Belle
Center, and by evening the town was
fnil OF grim yisag5d visitors. About 10
O'Clock secret message was sent to Sheriff
w. II. Chandler announcing that an attack
would be made upon the Jail that night.
The sheriff, acting On the legal advice OF
Col. Il. p. Kennedy, called in the servi-
ces of seven assistants, but was ad-
vlsed to make no violent resistance. The
whole affair was managed with refreshing
strategy and bOldness. Not the slightest
attempt at concealment was made. At hall
past 10 o'clock the rustic avengers
from Belle Center, Huntsville and the
Reservoir assembled mile from
Bellefontaine, on the Northwood
pike, armed principally with large revolvers,
and very silently marched forward under a
tall, swarthy leader. Most of them were
slightly masked, but many had neglected
and even scorned this precsution, such
was the fearless character OF the
party. They felt the sympathies of the
people were with them and that no tear OF
detection and grand jury indictments need
DO entertained. There was system of one kind
if not Oianother. The lynchers were divided
into five companies of twenty-four each
and one of thirty-six, each one having spe-
cial work TO do, on the principle of
DIVISION OF LABOR.
The column entered the main street and
proceeded toward the Jail at quarter OF u
O'Clock, and by this time over five hundred
citizens were on the street, though no Belle
fontaine men, as far "a can be learned, had
any hand in the business. 1T was exactly
ten minutes before midnight when the first
platoon filed in front OF the Jail door aud
rammed through the door with huge bsI
of railroad iron. Once inside, the second
platoon continued the work on the iron door
that guarded the exterior OF the jail
1t soon yielded to sledge ham
mers ann cold chiseis The
KEYS were then demanded and refused
whereupon, Dy cbisel and sledge, they
worked their way through padlocks and
slides till they stood at the prisoners cell
1t was slow work and they had not sue
ceeded till 1890 o., dock in reaching
their man Shell was lying un-
der his couch when .orst approached
by the avengers, but never uttered WolO
or groan. When they entered oe was slLtlne
on the bed full OF grit and bravery. lie
never finched, and made no resistance
They led him ont TO the sidewalk 10 Ine
corner of the court hoCse yard,
where large dry goods box was S"ne
invitingly under the limb OF a poplar T. 'Se.
Had he any confession TO make? No, onI
that he wss innocent. When asked il he
knew anything of Terrence, he said heidi not
He refused the services of a minister and
with his last breath reasserted his innocence
and swore that his wife had become jealous
of Alice, and had committed the murder
herself. Why hadn't he said said so before?
Because she was his wife. Then they
dropped him. When two minutes
had passed some tender individual
wanted Shell taken down. He must
be dead. But the tall man held a
pistol out and advised no citizen to NEEDLE.
They allowed him to hang tor half an hour,
and the body was then taken down and
placed on the Courthouse steps, where it
lay till o'clock in the morning.
WHEN THE DRHD WAS DONE
and justice had been paid to the bitter
ropes end and the avengers and lockers on
had dispersed leaving each one to
meditation, the question was whether
there would be the same unanim-
ity OF opinion in twelve hours as to the
righteousness Of the verdict which was thus
rendered by the leader: 1.-THE penalty has
now been paid, citizens, and it is now our
duty to dispense quietly to our honest
On second thought the wisdom of
this act was doubted by many
in the town. No regular verdict over the re-
mains of Alice had yet been reached, and
the deed had been done entirely on the
strength of the wiie's confession. She was
known to be woman OF fmsy and
Enthusiastically character. Her story
was the most remarkable and up-
natural confession on record. Either she
had for years been under slavish subsection
to a brutal husband, so chained down by
menI and self-control were gone. or she
was as bad as himself. The idea
OF her standing by and consenting to the
company of Alice on that trip when she
knew the plot against her life seemed too
preposterous to be believed and if true,
made her party to the deed. Very soon
there was reaction against her and regrets
were expressed that she had not
been included. She was female fiend, and
could not explain her villainy to the salts
faction of the public. Insanity might have
been plea, but it was not urged or sug-
gested. The feeling gained ground all day,
and was growing when the reporter
ling bit of evidence against Ma
linda Shell came out in the
morning. 1t had been overlooked in the
excitement of the lynch. In the hand of
the dead girl, tightly clenched, has been
found
SOME THREADS OF HAIR.
In her death struggle with the enemy, she
had torn these from the roots, and
held them like wise. The hair
was fine, dark and strait. They were sup
posed at first to be from Shells head, but on
examination under the microscope they sp-
peared darker and coarser, for his own hair
was uncommonly fine, and what
settled the matter as to Shell the
hair ranged from 10 to ii inches in
length, and no hair in his head measured
half that. Were they Alice'sf No, her hair
was dark auburn and finer in texture.
Whose then? They belonged to Malinda.
In length, color and texture they were an
exact counterpart of this woman's locks.