The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-10-24
AN ANGRY MOB REPULsED.
Demanding a Murderer For "A Vic,
tim.

FOWLER, IND, October 17.-There
is great excitement over the confess
sion of Jacob Melting, the murderer
of Ada Atkinson. Melting narrowly
escaped lynching last night, but al
though the storming of the Fowler
Jail was not then successful the idea
of lynching has not been given up,
and it is expected that about fifty
determined men will secretly organ
ize themselves and quietly force their
entrance to the Jail when it is not
guarded and hang Melting without
much demonstration.
On the 24th of September Ada
Atkinson, fifteen years old. daughter
of Cephas Atkinson, well known
and wealthy cattle dealer, residing
near the village of Pinelands, Benton
county, was found murdered in her
room. Her father and mother had
left home early in the morning for
the railroad station, several miles
distant. Ada and her sister, Lucy,
were left at home, alone. After din
ner Lucy left for visit to friends
some distance away and Ada became
the sole occupant of the house.
About five o'clock in the afternoon
Lucy returned. Going up to the
sleeping rooms she found her sister
lying on the floor, covered with
blood. An alarm was at once given
and the neighbors made a hasty ex
animation, which showed that the
girl had been literally hacked to
pieces. There were twenty-five sep
arate cuts. The murderer had first
severed the jugular vein, after that
he had gone deliberately to work to
mutilate his victim on the face,
hands and neck. Great gashes
across the stomach exposed the in
testines, while everything near was
spattered with blood. Most of the
mutilation was done after the girl
was helpless and possibly dead, and
the fiend who committed the terri
bic deed tore off the girls clothing
that the knife might sink the deeper.
When first discovered the dead girl
was lying with her face on the floor,
her head resting partly upon one
arm, while the other was stretched
forward, as though she had attempt
ed to clutch the carpet. Not thing
was taken from the house and mon
ey in the bureau was not disturbed.
Suspicion pointed to Melting, who
was a laborer on the Atkinson farm.
He denied any connection with the
crime and tried to SHIFT it upon the
shoulders of Jacob Ladd. Both meh
were taken into custody. Melting
confessed to the officers that he had
murdered little Ada While he was
chopping wood, he said, an insane
freak took possession of him TO kill
the little girl and he went right into
the house and committed the bloody
deed.
When This confession was made
public yesterday the greatest excite
ment prevailed. Men crowded into
town from Lafayette and Oxford,
and by nine o'clock in the evening a
mob of eight hundred or a thousand
men surrounded the Jail and de-
manded the murderer. The prisoner,
when he heard the mob bowling
outside, sank to the cell floor tremb-
ling and moaning in abject fear.
The would-be lynchers demanded
that Melting should be brought out
and were wild with excitement for
fear that he would escape the gal
lows on the plea of insanity. The
sheriff and his assistants stood firm
and refused to deliver up the prison
er A guard of fifty armed men as
sisted them. A rush was made by
the lynchers an6 a struggle ensued,
during which several lynchers were
thrown down and trampled under
foot. The sheriff and the ex-sheriff
pleaded urgently with the crowd to
disperse, and the best citizens of the
town went in among them, begging
them for Gods sake to desist. The
mob were under no regular leader
ship or they would have accomplish
ed their object. They dispersed with
threats of hanging the murderer at
some future time. After midnight
train arrived, and another mob
was organized and made several un-
successful attempts to get the pris-
oner. This mob surged about the
jail all night ard only dispersed
with daylight To-day the Gov
ernor ordered out Company c of the
State Guards, who are on duty. |
Melting is much frightened, and de-
clares thot he would never have
murdered Ada if he had been in his
right mind. The Jail is secure and
well defended by the sheriff7s armed
force.