Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-28
AN ILLINOIS LYNCHTNG.
now Mob Avenged an Assry Fs,hess Cr.eI
Crime.


"A Mound City (Ill.) special says
Down at the ship-yard on the Ohio
n'er there is deep-toned bell which
strikes the hours through the night.
ms morning the bell struck once and
here vas deep silence and peace
throughout the town. An hour later it
struck the second hour Of the Sabbath.
and before the sound died away the fire.
bells were changing like mad. Over at the
Pulaski county Jail, whittier the crowd
which poured into the streets ran, a
mob OF men were battering down doors
and bars and a guard was ringing the
sarm-bell as if for dear life. Fifteen
minutes before one Of the guards looked
out OF second-story window to the
west and saw the head of a man with
masked face just rising above the leyee
not fifty feet in the rear Of the jail. For
moment the man stood motionless.
Then he waved his hand and fifty more
masked men swarmed over the edge Of
the leyee.
"They are after Maupin." said the
sheriff, who stood near the guard, and
the two men fired on the mob. Nobody
fell and nobody stopped. The jail
door went down as if it were of card
board before the throng. One of the
guards on the lower floor rushed up the
steps leading to the cells and tried to
close the door. Half a dozen men
hurled themselves against the door,
and the guard tumbled over in heap.
The sheriff and his assistant were dis
armed, and the keys demanded and re-
fused. Big mauls were brought into
use, and in fifteen minutes the pom
derous oaken door leading TO the cells
fell TO pieces. In the room was a cage
made of heavy iron bars, and in the
cage were two negroes and awhite man
named John Maupin, who had been
there since last Wednesday night.
Again the mauls rsined blows, and
the door Of the cage was forced open.
Maupin sat on the floor with his back
to the door, apparently obliyious Of
what was going on. A moose was flung
over his head and he was dragged by
the neck into the open air. On top of
the levee he gave a wild yell, the first
sound that had escaped his lips since
Wednesday night. A dozen men picked
him up and carried him into the woods.
Three hundred yards from the Jail
is large tree, with limbs droOp-
ing almost to the ground. Over
the highest limb the rope was thrown,
and Maupin was hauled into the
air. When his blackened and distorted
face swung around into the moonlight a
dozen balls were fired into his body.
Then the fifty men quietly disappeared,
unmolestcd, and everybody said they
could not identify a single one Of the
party.
The sheriff. who had been released,
hurried into the woods with his men
and cut down the dead body. A coro-
ner's jury said that John Maupin came
to his death at the hands Of . mob
composed Of persons to the jury un-
known, and the body WAS sent to Maui
pins family, three miles away in the
country.
Maupin was in Jail for an exceeding
" cruel and cOwardly murder. Last
Wednesday morning his daughter mar
ried John L.. Daniels, a thrifty, hard
working young farmer, who was d.
yorced from his wife the day before in
order that he might marry Miss Maui
pin. Her father was opposed to the
marriage, and swore he would kill Dan
iels on sight if it took place. The cere-
mony was performed in the morning,
when Maupin was away from home.
When he learned of it he took musket
and went over to Daniels's house. Dan
iels and his wife were standing in the
doOr-yard.
" Let us reason over this matter"
said the former to his father-in-lsw.
Without saying q word Msupin raised
his muSket and fired twenty buckshot
into Daniels. Then, as the latter did
not fall at once, Maupin knocked him
down with the butt Of the musket, and
pounded his skull in. The murderer
was arrested that evening, and pre-
tended to be crazy. The sheriff was
afraid an attempt would be made to
lynch him, and had extra guards in the