Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1882-08-19

Lynch Law La Colorado
- don't think the frontier ever wit
messed lynchlug so bold as that #
Bolts and Browning" said Mr. Hick-
man, the Receiver OF the Land Otfica
az Lake City. 10 q reporter yesterday.
lou will remember the cause.
oherln Campbell attempted 10 arrest
the two men, you know, while they
were III the &C, of stealing some iurnl.
thre from a house He was shot aud
killed inst an,ly-an assistant WHO was
with him identifying the faces Of the
murderers by the hight of a match.
which was struck when the demand for
surrender was made The murder was
committed on the both Of last month";
The day we We're TO have celebrated TIE
Old fellows anniversary The Sheriff
was the founder of our Lodge, and IL
stead of a celebration we had a funeral
4 better fellow thai Campbell never
lived. The murderers were the keep
ers of daDee-hall. They were ar
rested that morning and put III Jail.
Campbells two brothers, who were
minlng at Pitkln, eigLty-tive miles
away, were telegraphed to come to
Lake City to attend the funeral. That
afternoon, the 9th, a rumor was circu-
lated IN the streets that there would he
prayermeetlng at the house of the
dead Sheriff at eleven O'Clock. | had
! not the slightest suspicion 0; the inter
ton, and WAS among the one hundred
men or more who congregated near the
premises. | was not there long before
| had learl the purpose Of the adver-
tisement, and WAS not slow in washing
my hands of the affair The men had
met to lynch the murderers. The plan
was given out boldly, and as boldly
executed, as the next day when l arose
the information l received before | mad
reached the breakfast-table was that the
lifeless bodies of the two men were
hanging from the cross beam of the
Gunniuson River Bridge, below the
city"
Did you hear how the vigilantes
proceeded?"
"From the gossi p which was circu
lated after the excitement and precau-
ton had died out, l believe that at
least one hundred men were in the
Iynchlng party. | will tell YOU the
occurrence as framed it from mixed
! reports. From the prayer meeting the
vIgilants went to the Jail. The guards,
apparently, offered no resistance, and
Belts and Browning were taken out.
Their haads were first bound to their
sides. Some of the representative
Church members Of the community are
said to have been in the throng which
4 manded the eye for an eye and the
tooth for tooth. I don't know now
true that was Well, while the men
were being bound, one of them asked il
there was friend in the crowd. A
young gambler, who had been a tre-
quenter of the dance-hall pand a friend
to the doomed men, shouted that be
was a friend, and made break toward
| the prisoners. Somebody placed the
cold muZz!e of pistol against the side
of his head and told him to skip til.
| town lnstanter. l believe that the IN
cident was q true bill, because the
. courageous youth was not seen in the
city until week later Everything
, was done quietly, dispassionately. The
two men were marched down the Gun
nison road after midnight. Neither o
them weakened, even when the bridge
was reached, and the cruel nooses were
placed about their necks. An efor
t was made to save Browning. many in
sisting that he did not fire the fatal shot
r and should not be lvnched for com
plicity in the murder. Browning woul(
4 have been turned loo.e had it not bcel
for the fact that he said he would b'
{ reveuged upon the witness of the mur
0 der. When he made this threat he wa
r deemed better man dead than alive
/ as every body knew that, although
s quiet man, he was desperate. Just g
. the hanging bee was being ended, and
v l understood it, while the ropes wer
) being arranged for the pulling, the tw
r Campbell brothers arrived Mt the scene
o having rode the eighty five miles b
buck board and in the saddle that Gay
The murderers were asked i. they la
aught to say, and both cody replie
that they had not. They re hauge
to beam which crosses above frol
i truss to truss Of the bridge. The bodis
: were allowed TO dangIe there until la'
in the day. They were planted, hov
= ever, before the remains Of the Sh.rI
"a were inferred.
u Was there any indig alton xpso>>e
) against the lynching 2"
). Not the least. On the contrary, Il
}. people all thought the act good oa'
and all that could be heard III the ".
II Of comment indicated feeling of r
o lief and satisfaction
J. Washing ton C,ty Projected. /
e Philadelphia In 1871 was the Latloi
r capital The intention of the Cover
; ment however. was 70 establish q CT
'' for the purpose on the banks Of the +
ie tomac. One OF the most ,utereatll
st paragraph. IL the old New YORK tY,
IL nsercial Is the announcement that ii