The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-04-28
TELEGRAPHIC.
HORRIBLY AVENGED.
A Negroes Dastardly Crime and His
Prompt and Awful Death.
Trailed by BlOodhOunds, Slowly
Strangled, and Finally Dispatched
with a ShOt-Gun--His Vic-
tim,s Gallant Fight.

HELENA, Ark, April 28-An atrocious
rhine perpetrated by John Henderson. a
negro hand on the Davis plantation in Boil
var county, Mississippi, just across the river.
was horribly avenged. the negro being
trailed with bloodhounds and slowly
strane led to death The victim of the brutal
rutilan was Miss Ida Davis, member of one
of the oldest families in Bolivar county,
beautiful young lady of IS years. She is
now lying at home under the care OF physI-
clans, and her recovery is regarded as highly
Improbable.
Miss Davis was returning from visit on
horseback to a neighboring plantation when
Henderson, who had concealed himself beside
the road in lonely locality, suddenly sprang
forward and seized the horse by the bride
aud ordered the girl to dismount She
slashed her assailant over the face with
her riding-whip and urged her horse for
ward but the animal was held firm by
the brute strength Of the negro, who
seized the girl and dragged her from the
saddle. The horse then fed, and Miss
Davis was in the power of the rufiian
His first act was to bind her wrists behind
her back with a stout cord. He then tore
the sash which bound her riding, habit at her
waist from her person and gagged her with
it. She appealed piteous to the wretch to
desist until she was rendered speechless by the
gag, and then in haIf-conscious condition
was dragged to neighboring thicket and
kept u prisoner by her assailant for several
hours. The indignities to which the helpless
girl was subjected were of the grossest char
acter, and she was at last loft by the mis-
,,t in
Miss Davis failure to return home by twi
light excited apprehension, and her father
started for the plantation to which she had
gone. On the road, a few miles from the
house, he met his daughters horse, without
a bride and the saddle turned. He searched
the ReghborhoOd, but could find no trace Of
his daughter He then rode home as quickly
as possible and sent ont an alarm to all the
neighboring plantations. Searching parties
were quickly organized and a pack of
trained bloodhounds obtained. Nearly all
the young men in the county and
many of the plantation hands were
soon on the trail. Every foot of ground for
miles around was traverSed, but it was not
until after 10 O'Clock that an old negro heard
his shouts feebly answered, and following up
the clew found Miss Davis lying on the
ground. She had freed one hand of the cord
and removed the gag from her mouth, but
was too weak to move a step The unfortu-
nate girl was soon surrounded by her friends,
to whom she related the story of the terrible
outrage. Her face and throat were cut and
bruised, and she was otherwise shockingly
maltreated.
No time was lost in organizing searching
party for Henderson. The bloodhounds
were put on the trail and the hunt continued
for several hours At o'clock in the morn
ing the sagacious animals stopped beneath g
large cotton wood tree, and their howls soon
attracted the searchers to the spot Hender-
son had concealed himself in the topmost
boughs He was ordered to come down, but
refused until couple Of shots ratified about
his ears. He then descended, and was in
stantly seized Some of the avenging party
advised that he be tortured to deatL
over slow fire, but, while the
crowd was excitedly discussing his
mode of death, one of the men threw a moose
around Hendersons neck and he was slowly
drawn up over limb. His hands were left
free and his struggles as he clutched the rope
that was strangling him were horrible to
witness. When nearly unconscious he was
lowered to the ground, allowed to revive,
and then drawn up again. This was re-
peated several times until finally Hend ersor
became unconscious. One of the crowd ther
took the gun from Mr.. Davis and fired both
barrels into the body of the dying wretch.
The rope was then let go and the corpse fell
to the ground, where it was left