The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-06-11
LOADED WITH LEAD.
An Iowa Jail Stormed by a Mob
and Two Prisoners Rid
died with Bullets.
Frantic Cries OF the Doomed Men
for Help-TheiP Careers OF
Lawlessness.

Heavens sake, save usi" were the cries
that startled the quiet people of Eldon
Iowa, at 1880 o'clock in the morning
People living nesr the disturbance" says
an eye witness Of the scenes that fol owed,
"hastened from their beds and followed the
direction of the sound. AS soon as they
reached the public square, all doubts as to
the cause of the unusual commotion were
removed.
"A masked mob had gathered around
the Jail, and were battering down the
doors for the purpose of securing Fin
and Manse Rainsbarger, the outlaws who
were confined for the attempted murder
of Drs. Underwood and Riedenour, on the
evening of June 2. The wild shrieks of the
doomed prisoners were heart-rending. They
knew too well the meaning of the gather
ing of earnest and determined men with
out and the first blow on the door sounded
their death-knell. AS the prospect OF
death loomed up before them, and they
realized that their miserable, crime stained
lives were to pay the penalty for years of
lnwlessness, they gave expression to their
terror in despairing cries for help. The
mob were not lopg in gaining admittance
to the Jail. but il took them fifteen minutes
TO get into the cell where the prisoners
were confined, sledge being used to open
the cell door. When the mob commenced
on this door, the prisoners backed them
selves against it and made a desperate
effort to hold out against the avengers.
Not until Manse was shot In the cell from
outside were the furious assailants able 10
get inside.
When the hammering was going on, the
prisoners, in their frenzy. called upon the
Sheriff, the Marshal, and the people of FL
dora for protection. Their cries Of murder
aud for hep could be heard long distance.
Then they called upon George Barber, of
Steamboat Rock, who was confined in an
other cell for hquor-selling. TO tell their
families that they died like dogs and no
one to help them.
Fin, after the door was broken in, made
dash for liberty, but was captured outside
of the Jail and held up and shot. The work
was so quickly accomplished that not many
of the citizens realized what was being done
until il was all over. The mob had guards
stationed at all the avenues leading 10 the
jail, and allowed 10 one to approach.
AS soon as the work was completed, the
Tarty, numbering perhaps seventy-tiye
men, departed quietly. Night Watch AL
drich and the editor of the Herald were
the first to arrive at the scene of the tIag-
edy and the sight that met their gaze was
horrible. Lying face downward in the
street about fifteen feet from the Jail was
the lifeless body of Manse Rainsbarger,
any lying partly on the sidewalk and partly
on the ground upon his back lay the body
of his brother Fin. Both bodies were lit
orally riddled with bullets. The bodies
were dressed just as they had retired for
tire night their pants and shirts being their
only clothing, except that Manse had his
stockings on. Then life blood flowed from
the wounds and covered them.
Lying near the bodies was the trunk of
hickory tree about nine inches ia dame
ter and fifteen feet in length. The limbs
had been trimmed up to within few inches
of the trunk. leaving them long enough TO
be firmly grasped by the hands. This was
the battering ram used to gain admission to
the jail, and in the hands of strong and de-
termined men required only few moments
20 break down the barriers that stood be-
tween them and the objects of their ven-
geance.
THE mob appeared in town about
o'clock, and their conveyances consisted of
nine wagons, and several of the party came
on horseback. A number of people heard
them come in. and wondered what
it meant, but as they made little noise in
their preparations they attracted scarcely any
attention. The officers having the prison.
ers in charge apprehended no danger for
their safety. Some threats had been made,
but no violent spirit had been openly man
ifested.
The Rainsbarger gang had so long car
RED on their lawless operations that the
people had settled down into an apparent
lethargy, hoping that the law would eventu-
ally punish them for their many crimes.
They doubtless would never have been
molested, and the law would have been al
lowed to take its course in regard to their
past offenses, bad they not aroused the
people to fury by the last outrage of which
they were guilty. On the evening of the
Sd Of June, as DIR. Underwood. Dr. Cald-
well. and DIR. G.. II. Riedenour were pass
ing through n heavy strip of timber eight
miles north of Eldora. three masked men
appeared mt the roadside and commenced
shooting at them with navy revolvers
at short range. The top buggy in
which they were riding was riddled with
bullets, and the escape OF its occupants is
wonderful, but they were uninjured save a
few scratches. DR.. Riedenour, with re-
markable eeeiaess, jumped out and opened
FIRE on the attacking party with good effect,
wounding one of them and driving them to
the trush. DIR. Underwood held the in
quest over the body Of Enoch johnson. who
was found dead near Clifford last Novem-
Der, and declared johnson had been muir
dered, and has done all he can to bring the
murderers to justice. Both Underwood and
Riedenour testified against the Rainsbar-
gers, who were tried some time ago for the
murder of johnson. Since then they have
been threatened and warned to leave the
State BY members of the Rainsbarger gang. :"