The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-10-14
HANGED TO ONE TREE.
An Extraordinary Lynching in
North Carolina.
Three Men and a Woman Strung
Up Together

Inc town OF flttSbOro, y. e., was the
other night the scene Of a terrible occur
renee At o'clock A. NJ. band of hum
dred disguised men marched up to the Jail and
demanded the keys Of the iailer. They made
threats when he refused to accede, and final.
~ forced him to dsliver the keys and show
them to the cells in which four negroes,
charged with being the murderers Of the
Gunter and Finch families, were confined
wanted-Jerry Finch his wife Harriet Finch,
Lee Tyson and John Pattishall. The prison.
ers were in an agony Of fear They had for
weeks dreaded lynching, and now their time
had come. The lynchers were inexorable and
marched the prisoners to place about mile
from Pittsboro, near crossing on public
road. Then all four were hanged to one tree.
The prisoners made no con neessions.
This was the horrible sequel to the murder
of the Gunter family in December, 1888. and
of the Finch family in July last The first
murder took place near Moacure on Sunday,
December "a, 1855. Mrs Olive Gunter,
aged eighty-nine, and Miss Jane Gum
ter, aged sixty-four. were brutally
murdered, and d granddaughter of Mrs.
Olive Gunter, aged eight Years, was NOR
tally wounded Near them lived Dexter
Gunter, Mrs Olive Gunter's son, Miss Jane
Gunter's brother, and the father OF the girl.
On the night of the 4th of July last triple
murder, in manner and method startingly
like the former, was committed within SIX
miles of the same spot. in thickly scttled
neighborhool lived Mr.. Edwin Finch, all old
bachelor, seventynine years of age,
with a maiden sister, aged eighty
one. With them lived a negro boy of sew
enteen, bound to Finch, who slept in
the room to be within easy call Half
mile distant was the house of Mr.. White, well
to do and the accepted heir Of Finch He had
in his room 1866; some OF the money was in a
bureau, which he kept locked. Near by lived
the negro Jerry Finch, with his wife, sister
and child. Jerry was acquainted with all
that happened at Finch'S His sister
milked cows there on Saturday night.
Jerry Finch and a negro named Lee Tyson,
who had bad reputation, were in Pittsboro,
where they remained until midnight, when
CATION that rain overlook them and they
sought shelter, and that they reached home
before day and went to bed. They wore new
shoes.
On Sunday morning Jerry's sister left the
house to go to the Finchs' She noticed the
door ajar and called the boy. Getting no
answer she called Mr. White, telling him she
feared something was wrong at the house.
White and little boy came over The boy
ran into the house, but rushed out e1claiming:
'sThey are al dead!n
White called q neiShbor and with others
went into the hou e. They found that Finch
had been stabbed in the throat and knocked
on the head with an axe. Miss Finch had
been similarly butrhercl, while on the floor
lay the negro boy, with his head nearly sew
cred from bis boly by cuts from an axe and
his skull crushed in in most barbarous man.
ner. The teeth wero knocked out The floor
was covered with blood The top of the bureau
had been Knocked Off and the drawers
knocked out with the axe. Tho contents
were thrown on the 1oor. The axe and knife
had been thrown into one OF the drawers.
The decd had evidently been recently commit
ted The body of Miss Finch was warm until
noon. An examination revealed the fact
that two men with new shoes, whose foot
steps agreed with those OF Jerry Lynch and
Lee Tyson, had crossed q piowed field and
Finch and Lee Tyson were arrested. Suspicion
pointed to three other negroes.
People linke1 the murder with that of the
Gunters. being marvelousy similar in char
acter Detectives were sent Tor from Rich
mond, Va. The peop'e were nearly wild with
rage There We're frequent and plain threats
Of lynching. The detectives arrived at the
conclusion that they would unearth both
murders at once. They found
that a negro named John Pattishall
was concerned in the Gunter murder, and
search was made for him. He was captured
at Raleigh. 1t was found that he went to
Moncure just before the Gunter murder, and
that Immediately thereafter he left for parts
unknown. Later he reappeared just be-
fore the Finch murder, and the day
and turned up in another county fifteen miles
away He told the people there OF the muir
der. The jury met from time to time, but
hesitated to render a verdict, fearing that
lynching would follow decision against the
prisoners. The feeling of the negroes against
the prisoners ran as high as that of the
white people. On the night of August
26 disguised persons arrested the
wife and sister of Jerry Finch and swung
them to tree. attempting to eHtort infor.
nation as to the murder. Each woman was
hung twice Both rers sted in declaring that
they know nothing about tho murder. SO
matters progressed until September when
the coroner's jury rendered the following
verdict:
"The Jurors for q verdict do say that Eh.
ward Finch Saiie Finch and Ephraim Eli
ington came to their deaths on tho night OF
July last, from blows on the head, inflicted
by an axe in the hands Of Jerry Finch, Har-
ret Finch, Lee Tyson and some other party
or parties to the jury un ;nown."
placed in jail. The court was to have met in
fortnight
Tho lynching was not unexpected, ,neyerthe-
1occ II craota6 nrnfpuO6 sensation