Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-11-14
LYNCH LAW IN ALABAMA.
VIGILANCE Committee Hang an AGED
Counle Charged with the Crime of MUIR

A vir,,,ncc 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
bv thirty masked men on horseback, and
all heavily armed. Twelve men dismountcd
and. marching to the door of the Jail,
called on the Sheriff to surrender J. Il.
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-directcd
blows. The noise of the fnrious assault
awakened the six inmates of the prison.
They all hurricdly dressed, and a negro,
who is held for theft, directed the mob to
the cells of Dorsey and Miss Ward. The
mob then demanded the Sheritf's keys to
the cells, and he surrendered them. One
brawny mountainecr unlocked the door
and icrkcd 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 felicf. He was scventy-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 he,
sixtieth year and in her youth had been
a woman of rare beauty. Her form
and bearing had been well preserved. She
presented a venerable appearance. When
the vigilantes first seized her she fought
But her resistance was of short duration
Her strength gave way and with a 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 a side road and
marching down to a ravine on the banks of
the Coosa River, they attached the rope to
a limb that extended from a 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 a momcnt later
l1lC Ill "CkC SllpNCu 1loll tlG DtllA
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
ever perpetratcd in the South. On the night
of October 5 Mrs. Mary Davis was sitting
in her parlor entertaining c. c. Jones, a
neighbor who had called to see her husband.
1t was just after twilight when a loud voice
was heard calling her to the door. She
responded. Her appearance\at the thresh-
old was instantly followed by the
a piercing scream she fell dead, bleeding
from the wounds Of a heavy charge of
bnckshot which severed a brcast-bone and
spattered fragments of her vital organs
! upon the wall. On hearing the report of
the CUR 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.
lynchins would have at once cnsucd 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. TIL 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 indiscrect act hurt her
reputation, and from that time she has lived
secluded from society. She had a violent
disposition, and recent became attached to
Dorsey. She was considered an accessory
to the Killing.