The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-06-09
Lynch LAW.
SIX Wanderers shat To Death at EdgeHeid,
South Carolina. f.a tIrn. 4

Six Murderers shst to Death at Edge Geld.
South Carolina. ESQ t'cu
tAbberyire Is. o. Cor Charleston News and
Oourer.l
From eye Witnesses of the lynching of
the murderers of Mr.. and Mrs. Harmon,
/ gather some further details that will be
of interest to the readers of the NesOs
and Cou. Ter. 1t seems that the lynch
ing was the direct result of the formal
verdict of the jury of inquest upon the
murdered couple. The jury found that
the Harmons were deliberately murder
ed by Stephen Lake, Larkin Holloway,
Marshall Perrin, Austin Davis, jeff. Set
ties. Jesse Lake, Bette Perrin and Tilda
Holloway, all negroes. These parties
had previously been arrested, and when
the inquest closed were delivered into
the custody OF Sheriff Richardson for
commitment to Jail. But immediately
the Sheriff was seized by the crowd,
which numbered about 600 persons, his
head was hastily covered with bag, and
he was carried off by force and confined.
The hour of retribution for the fiends
who had SO me cilessly butchered Mr..
and Mrs. Harmon had now arrived. All
crowd, which was composed of both
black and white citizens, and marched to
q point about half a mile from the
scene of the murder. There the six
men who had committed the crime We're
tied firmly together i'll row, and five
minutes were given to them to pray, at
the expiration of which time volley of
100 shots were fred, and the six wretches
fell dead to the ground. About 300 men
took part in the last act of the lynching.
They were variously armed with rifles,
shot guns and pistols. No masks were
worn by anybody, and there was no ex
hibition OF any excitement of any kind,
no loud talking and no whisky. Pre-
vious to their execution Austin Davis
and Stephen Lake had confessed that
the party had been concocting the MUIR
der for several weeks. Stephen first
knocked the victims on the head Hol-
loway turned the bodies over and
Stephen cut their threats. After the
murder the house was Quilted of every
thing valuable, and part of the goods
We're recovered in the hands of Austin
Davis. The two women were turned
loose AMI told to leave the county.
Harmon was an old man, owning a
farm and keeping small country store,
living alone with his wife, with not even
domestic in the house. Within one
hundred yards of the dwelling was the
house of the cook, and within two hun
dred yards the dwelling of a laborer and
his family. They, of course, were first
Intercepted, and their contradictory
statements gave the jury of inquest, one
of unusual intelligence and earnestness,
the clue that led to the arrest of certain
parties. The bodies were found the
morning after the murder upon the floor
of their dwelling, weltering in pools of
blood their skulls crushed by a blud-
geon found near by their Threats cut
almost from ear to ear, and an incision
of an inch in length made, as if with
sharp instrument, in each of the temples
of the husband. The evidence OF pre-
meditation and deliberate execution
stamp it as one of the most diabolical
crimes of the day. An old man, full of
years and honor, struggling daily alone
with faithful old life partner to render
their latter days comfortable, retiring to
their humble dwelling at night, feeling
secure in their moderate circumstances
and the consciousness of being at peace
with the world, brutally assaulted and
slain upon their very hearthstone! 1t
is too horrible to contemplate!
The bodies were found near each 9th
er on the floor, which had kefosene oil
poured upon it, and in some places was
scorched and in others burned through.
The devils attempted to join arson to
murder. The bodies also were satura-
ted with oil, but, as on the floor, the
blood had 80 mingled with it that the
fire was extinguished. The body of
the wife was sickening spectacle-the
skin actually coming off in flakes when
the stiffened crimson garments were
removed. Harmon still clutched in his
hand pencil, aad an old envelope, on
which were some simple calculations,
was found on the table, showing how
utterly unconscious of danger they were.
Printers Protest.