The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-05-14
High as Haman hanged

A few miles from Winston is an old
fashioned farm-residence surrounded by
grassy lawn, and shady grove a tavor-
ite picknicking resort with the young
people. Here lived Harrison Reed and
his wife, who by meeting so many vlsi-
tors, were well known throughout
the county. Rumor said this old couple
kept considerable money in the house /;
and this was believed by young Henry
Swain. who lived with a dissolute wo-
man in a cabin not far from the Reed
farm. Whiskey and women had ruined
Swain, who of late had been engaged
in pilfering expeditions through the
county.
Resolved on robbing the Reeds,
Swain hid in their barn until the old
man went 10 his work in the fields.
Whether he boldly attacked Mrs. Reed,
or was surprised by her, will not De
known. At all events. be broke her
skull with an axe, and inflicted fearful
gashes on her throat. Notwithstanding
these cruel wounds. she rushed towards
the field where her husband was at
work, and fell dead It his feet!
The alarm caused the murderer to fly
without obtaining his b~lood-money, and
it is supposed he imagined the woman
had died without betraying him j; for az
ter washing his hands in a brook, he
strolled into Winston, bought a pistol,
and went to work in a field on the Pfohl
& Stockton lands. But he was mista-
ken the dying pima had strength
for one word-''Swaim." And the
avengers were speedily on his track.
Four or five neighbors of Mrs. Reed
found him in the field at work, and
though he tried to escape, stopped his
flight with a volley of bullets. II was
proposed to lynch him at once; but
wiser counsels prevailed, and he was
lodged in jail. Rumors Of lynching pre-
parations became prevalent for a time !;
but it was gradually assumed b. the
towns people that the law would be re-
lied on to do justice. This idea may
have been disseminated as a ruse to
prevent serious resistance. AT any rate,
near midnight a band of one hundred or
more appeared at the jail and demanded
possession of the prisoner. The sheriff
held them in parley until Mayor ]. G.
Buxton could come. The latter placed
himself in front of the Jail door and
made a vigorous appeal to the lynchers
to await the action of the law. The
leaders listened quietly, but responded
that this was a case where prompt ac-
ton would be more instructive than any
courthouse sentence ; and they pro-
posed to hang Swain at the scene of his
~villainy.
Speedily the jail doors were broken
in, and the covering criminal carried
away by the crowd, which had grown to
several hundred in number. At the
Reed farm Swain vas asked to relieve
his soul by confession. He admitted
the crime, told how he perpetrated it,
and his motive. He confessed also to
several robberies in the vicinity. Then
he asked some one to pray. A man
stepped t o his side and delivered a pray
er,-which the doomed man doubtless
followed. The moonlight gave a wierd
aspect to the scene. 'God have mercy
on your soul!''- said the man of the
prayer and then there vas a ~creaking
of the tree limb as the rope was swiftly
drawn, and a gasping sound as the figure
of Swain shot upwards into the shadow
of the foliage,-there to hang through
the long hours of darkness, swinging
'twiNt earth and sky, as if unfit for eth
art