The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-07-17
miscellaneous.
Swift Terrible and Deserved.
Coal VALLEY, w. Va, July9 9, 1879.

COAL ALLEY, w. ' a., July y, 1919.
A few days ago Clark Lee, a negro man,
who has figured to some extent In certain
circles of colored society in Richmond and
who is probably we'll known to Chastine
Cox. committed a most atrociOus assault
upon Mrs. Settle, wife of the County Treasu-
rer of Fayette county, w. Va. Mrs. Settle
had the courage to resist him, and before
Lee could overcome her he had broken one
If her legs and her collar bone and pulled
ont her tonsils. The screams of the lady
drew her children to the room, and their out
cries frightened off the villain. The out
race. of course, occasioned great excitement,
and dozens of men, mounted and armed, set
ont in pursuit of the fugitive. Fayette
county is on the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail
road, and party in the Kanawha Valley.
The county is wild and rugged and the
mountaineers do not know the use of the
gaIlows. One has not been erected In that
section for years. Whenever such an of
fence as this is committed the people turn
ont. - the co~nstabulary turn in" a sapling
i selected and lynch law in all of its merci-
less promptness and severity administered
Lee. knowing the popularity of the West
Virrinians In this respect, fled for dear life.
By almost ~superhuman eXertlOns and after
considerable suffering, he got as far as Par
k~ersburg.
JUST IN
There on Saturday last he was captured
and the Fayette authorities notified just in
time to save the life of another negro, be-
leyed to be Lee, who was In the hands of a
mob down in the county, and who would
otherwise have been hanged Monday. In
fact a great crowd was already In attendance
awaiting the event. Lee was put under the
custody of an officer and sent from Parkers-
burg to Huntington by an Ohio River
steamer. His movements were we'll known,
and upon his arrival at Huntington he was
met by about two hundred men. These
formed an escort for him on his homeward
trip. He was put upon the Chesapeake and
Ohio train at Huntington with the ostensible
purpose of being conveyed to Fayette, but it
was well understood that no judge or jury
would be required in his case. 1t is probable
that If he had made no admission he might
have been taken to Mrs. Settle for Identified
ton but he got frightened out of his senses
and confessed the assault, and said that he
desisted when the screams of Mrs. Settles
children became so loud. This was enough.
1t was determined that he should not live
another day.
No MERCY.
At Coal Valley, which is a coal mining
centre. Lee was escorted from the train and
met bv a thousand or more miners, who
seemed to know the design of the escorting
party. and who were ready to cooperate III
a~venging their outraged countrywoman. Lee
was taken by the mob, if SO orderly and me-
thodical a party of West Virginia gentlemen
can properly be so designated, some distance
from the station and hanged. 1t is said on
one hand that his prayers for mercy were
piteous indeed, and that he besought the
iynchers to do anything they might with
him, SO they left him life. On the other
hand, it is represented that after commend
ing his soil to the Almighty he bore himself
with tn. utmost indifference.