The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1884-10-24
LYNCH LAW IN ALABAMA.
A Vigilance Committee Hang an Aged
Couple Charged with the Crime of MUIR
dor

Vigilance Committee Hang an Aged
Couple Charged with the Crime of MUIR
der.
CENTRE, Ala, Oct. 22.-At one o'clock
yesterday morning the Cherokee County
JAIL located in this town , was surrounded
by thirty masked men on horseback, and
all heavily armed. Twelve men dislnounted
and, marching to the door of the jail,
called on the Sheriff to surrender j. r.
Dorsey and Miss Jane Ward The Sheriff
refused. The doors were at once
battered down, and the men in an instant
were in the inner corridor, the doors to
which easily gave way before well-directed
blows. The noise of the furious assault
awakened the six inmates of the prison.
They all hurTiedly dressed, and negro
who is held for theft, directed the mob to
the cells of Dorsey and Miss Ward The
mob then demanded the Sheriffs keys to
the cells, and he surrendered them. One
brawny mountaineer unlocked the door
and jerked Dorsey out into the cor
ridOr. He begged piteously for
his life, and then giving way to
tears fell at the feet of the mob
and lifting his hands prayed fervently for
divine relief. He was seventy-four years old,
and his long, white hair flowing in the soft
breezes that penetrated the avenues of the
dismantled prison lent to his prayer an air
of reverence that was most pathetic and in
duced two of the eXecutioners to plead in
his behalf. But the other ten were ineXora-
bic. The scene at the cell door whence
Miss Ward was little less rudely taken
was equally pathetic. She had passed her
sixtieth year and in her youth had been
woman of rare beauty. Her form
and bearing had been well preserved. She
presented venerable appearance When
the vigilantes first seized her she fought.
But her resistance was of short duration.
Her strength gave way and with last as
sertion of innocence she tainted and fell
heavily upon the stone floor of the prison.
One of the men caught her in his arms, and
swinging her body across his shoulder bore
her out of the Jail, followed by Dorsey and
his escort
The mob then took side road and
marching down to a ravine on the banks of
the COOsa River, they attached the rope to
limb that extended from tall bank over
the placid waters beneath. The rope was
so adjusted that it would not slip and both
the ends were loose. Moses were hastily
adjusted at both ends, and were slipped
over the heads of the aged couple. The
slips were drawn and moment later
the bodies were showed from the bank
and dangled until life had become extinct.
Then the swaying ceased and the lifeless
bodies hung until noon yesterday when the
Coroner cut them down.
The crime for which the aged couple gave
their lives was one of the most atrocious
4
of October Mrs. Mary Davis was sitting
in her parlor entertaining G. G. Jones, a
neighbOr who had called to see her husband.
1t was just after twilight when loud voice
was heard calling her to the door. She
responded. Her appearance at the thresh-
old was instantly followed by the
report of a shot, and with
a piercing scream she fell dead, bleeding
from the wounds of heavy charge of
buckshot which severed breast-bone and
spattered fragments of her vital organs
upon the wall On hearing the report of
the gun and the Woman's screams Jones
fastened to the door only to have the top of
his head torn away by a similar shot.
He, too, fell dead instantly. The assailants
at once disappeared. Before the life-blood
of the victims had fairly ebbed away the
husband of Mrs. Davis appeared in COM
pany with some neighbors, and all were
Mortified at the spectacle of the dead bodies
which lay across each other. Circumstances
seemed to point to Dorsey and Miss Ward
as the perpetrators Of the horrible crime,
and they were accordingly arrested. A
lynching would have at once ensued had
not the Sheriff rescued the prisoners and
placed them in the jail at Alpha, Ga. That
night they were spirited away, and it was
not until two days ago that their where
abouts was detected. The events of Mon
day night at once followed. Dorsey was
jealous of Mrs Davis, who was his neice,
and that is the only motive that can be as
cribed for the crime.
Miss Jane Ward was a spinster of sixty
years. Prior to the war she was rich and
beautiful, but an indiscreet act hurt her
reputation, and from that time she has lived
secluded from society. She had a violent
disposition, and recently became attached to
Dorsey. She was considered an accessory
to the killing.