The daily gazette., 1882-05-03
A WESTERN LYNCHING.
How Justice was Administered to a Brute
in Human Form in Ohio.
rClncinnntl Ennnlrer.1

How Justice was Administered to a Brute
in Human Form in Ohio.
[Clncinnau Enqulrer.l
Frank Fisher, the negro who so horribly
outraged the little German girl, Barbara
Retting, aged only Is years, in the woods
where he had been chopping wood, last Fri
day noon, and who escaped, was captured
about 5 o'clock Saturday morning at Fred
ericktown, Knott county. The prisoner
was at once taken to the Jail in the City
Hall at Gallon, and confined in one of the
heavy iron cages, and the Mayor and city
officers were laying plans to take him TO the
county jail at Bucyrus or some other jail in
some neighbOrng county, fearing that the
loud threats of lynching would be carried
out if Fisher should remain in the City Hall
cell.
Their fears were well founded for the news
of Fishers capture spread through the city
and neighboring towns like wildhre, and at
three O'Clock this afternoon a large crowd of
determined men, boldly, defiantly and un-
masked, with hammers, crowbars and other
implements Of demolition and a huge and
significant-looking rope, presented them
selves before the entrance of the City Hall
prison and demanded that Frank Fisher, the
negro rapist, be surrendered into their hands
The officers of the Court refused. Then
ensued terrible scene of strife.
The handful Of officers were powerless,
and the speeches of Mayor Underwood, e..
NJ. Zeagler and others, who begged the
excited crowd to let the law take its course
and deal with the prisoner whose blood they
sought, were unavailing and unheard. With
their implements of destruction they forced
open the doors as though they were paper,
broke open the iron cage that contained the
guilty, trembling wretch, and grasping him
Il IL In Nrfga YaGrl1 Il
him out into the street with a defiant shout.
Previous to this however, delegation,
accompanied by a physician whom they had
pressed into service, drove furiously down to
the residence of the victim of the negro's
| lust to ascertain whether she was in proper
mental and physical condition to see the
negro for indentiication. The physician
asked her whether she knew the negro who
had caused her misery. She replied yes
that she had often seen him while he was
chopping wood near their home, and
described his appearance ; and, being asked
whether she could identify him, she replied
that she could.
The delegation satisfied, reported at once
at the City Hall, and then the scene that has
been described was enacted. With boots
yells and cheers the crowd, preceded by
some men and boys bearing the fatal rope
marched with the frightened negro monster
to the Retting residence, at the foot Of Soutl
Market street, ust ut the south city limits
| and took the black beast into the presence o
Barbara Retting, the little girl whom h
had so horribly outraged. As soon rs he
eyes fell upon the cowardly and cOwerinl
wretch before her, she exclaimed, That
the man who did it, and soon tainted witt
the terrible recolleetions. The crowd thre,
the rope over the negro's head and dragge
him to a tree in the rear of the lot, but som
= one suggested the woods, the seen
of the terrible crime, hard by, as tn
fit place to eXpate his crime, and to tn
:, woods where he had been but few day
: ago chopping wood, Frank Fisher wa
= dragged and told that his time to die ha
come. He protested his innocence to tn
= last, but the blood stains upon his clothin
and the girls evidence, coupled with h
numerous lies to the officers, were enOug
S to condemn him in the minds of the ii
furiated and desperate crowd, and han
:. him. They argued that a trial by law Woul
only send him to the pententiary and chca
= u the gallows OF as black-hearted demon d
i ever trod the earth, but they let him pra
= for short time. He said in his prayer
t 80 Lord take care of me know that
i am going to die, but have many friends.
" The balance of his appeal was drowned |
the cries Of the crowd to string him up. ii
hands were tied behind his back, his fe
u pinioned, a handkerchief placed over h
e face, a steady pull was given on the rope, Il
Is end made fast TO a stump, aud at 4. 10 o'cloc
= the soul Of Frank Fisher, the negro rapis
was sent 10 answer for his crime before
higher court.
, 1t is estimated that at least two thousar
lie people, men, women and children, witness,
lie the execution by Judge Lynch. A lar,
If number Of people from Bucyrus, Mou
!, (iilead, Crestline and other neighbour
If s1 'l~ ~ ~