Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1884-07-18
A BRAVE JAI1ER.
W. ]. Lucas, the Jailer Of Daviess
County, Dies Fighting a Mob
After a Negro Prisoner.
HIS vALOR UNAvAILING, AND THE
LYNCHING PARTY SUCCEED IN
THEIR UNDERTAKING.

About the 4th Of July a negro
named Dick May was lodged in the
Owcnsboro Jail, charged with max
ing an assault upon an invalid
daughter of Sod Kelly, a farmer
living two miles from town. The
negro went to the house of Mr.. KEEL
ly while the family were at work in
the tobacco and assaulted an invalid
daughter. Bitten by a pet dog and
frightened by the girls screams, he
fled and hid. lie was found by the
officer in the bushes. Threats of
lynching had been freely made, and
the Jail had been guarded by a
strong posse. Monday morning
about | 30 A. NJ, the guard having
been withdrawn, the mob which had
gathered during the night without
much noise, entered the city and sur
rounded the Jail.
The following detailed account of
the affair is from the Messenger:
"rhe leader and seven or eight
men dismounted and walked from
the Opera House corner over toward
the Jail. Jailer Lucas, who had been
apprised of their coming, was stand
ing on the pavement at the gate al
the side of the Jaller's residence. liz
called out TO them, "IIaltw
The group of men paused for an
instant and asked, "Who are you 2
lie replied, 81 am Lucas, the jailer,
and you can't come in here"
The men continued to advance
and he ran around the house and VI
the back stairway, and leaning ovel
the railing of the gallery as they
reached the gate, cried out to. them
"Don't come in that gate. l will
shoot the first man that does. Sew
eral shots were then fired by the
mob, probably in the air, to intimi
date the jailer, and he opened fir,
upon them from the gallery. Hi
voice could be heart above the
din of the fire, "I'll be Cd id if
give up the jail; III swear TO Goo
III never give him un to You!
I'LL DIE FIRsTw
And the leader of the mob would re
: peatedly call out, as each shot wa
fired, "Give him up!". At the sam
time others were trying to batter il
the front door, and smashed in on
of the parlor windows. Tommy Lu
cas-, the jailer's son, fred six shot
out of one of the upstairs front win
dowS into the mob, and it wa
thought two or three of the me
were certainly wounded. After tn
: jailer had fired seven shots, she
from one Of the mob struck him j
!; the right breast, and he fell back O
> the floor of the gallery with a terri
, BILE groan. Mrs. Lucas aud Tomm
picked him up and carried him int
the family room and laid him on tn
d bed, and Tommy started out tn
back way to go for physician. Bu
the mob, which at first had been
some extent intimidated by the he
. firing of the jailer and his son, ha
), been induced by the leader, who fir
Z coaXed and begged and then curse
at them, to go into the yard, had a
cended the stairway and stoppe
. him at the muzzle of their pistol
demanding the KEYS to the jail.
: told them his father had hid ther
and they would have to find then
: Mrs. Lucas appealed to them to /
the boy pass and get a physician ft
J her wounded and dying husban
y but they would not. Tommy thu
turned and went down the fro
stairway and out the front door, b
= he was again halted, The appe
made to the men here had its ellie
and he was allowed 10 go. The j.
y door was battered in with a sled.
- hammer, and May was found aft
some search and led into the cou
: yard, where he was hanged to a TT,
1t is estimated that the mob was col
ne posed of from thirty to ifty mt