The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-03-24
A NEW JERSEY LYNCHING.
A Colored Assailant of a White
Han

A COlOred ASSallant OF q Nh1Ce
Woman Hanged.
An Eatontown On. J) dispatch gives the
following particulars of the lynching of an
old colored man after he had been arrested
for assaulting young white woman:
This little town, near the Monmouth Park
race-couIse, was last night the scene of tragg-
edy unparalleled in the annals of New Jersey.
About midnight Samuel johnson, alias Min
20 Jack" notorious colorod desperate, was
taken from the Jail by band of masked
men and hung from the door of the
prison. He was arrested last night
charged with having committed dastardly
assault upon young white woman named
Farmer Henry Herbert, who lives near Mapp's
Mill, about three miles from this place. She
is a tall, slender and decidedly pretty blonde,
and her sterling qualities of heart and win
ming ways have made her many friends in the
neighborhood in which she figured as BELLE
Shortly after o'clock last evening Miss
Herbert left her home to call at the house Of
Farmer Brown, who lives about al eighth Of
q mile away through the woods When her
journey was half over the girl heard foot
steps close behind and, turning her head was
felled to the ground by blow on her head
with a club. In minute a small
iendish-looking negro was bending over her
with an uplifted club in his hand. The girl
recognized her asSailant as Mingo Jack, the
ex-convict. She screamed loudly for assis-
tance, when the negro clutched her fercely
by the throat and choked her into uncon-
sciousness Then he dragged her PROSTATE
body in the bushes
When the girl recovered consciousness the
negro was not in sight More dead than alive
she managed to drag herself home, where she
arrived in most pitiable condition. Blood
was streaming from an ugly cash on the back
of her head, while her face and throat bore
marks Of the recent outrage. The girl told Of
her assault and was put to bed. Dr. w. d.
Beach was summoned and pronounced her in
juries dangerous.
Farmer Herbert summoned his two sons
and started in pursuit of the villain. They
were Joined by village constable and
posse Of men.
The negro was captured in his own house, in
South Eatontown.' He was locked up in the
village Jail at s o'clock. Meanwhile public
sentiment had been wrought up to fever heat
by the outrage, and vague hints of proposed
lynching were rife. Shortly after II o'clock
large number Of masked men surrounded the
twenty men in the party. At daybreak
Mail Carrier Heath was passing down the
street, when he was Mortified to see a human
form dangling from the prison door.
The rope was tied in moose around the
dead negro's neck and passed thence around
one Of the bars in the window over the door.
The glass in the grated window had been
broken by apistol shot aimed at the negro,
who had evidently been covering in his cell.
The bullet was found imbedded in the wall
The body was cut down.
When the coroner arrived examination
showed that the negro had not been shot,
but had died of Strangulation. The lynch
ers went as quietly as they came and left no
clews behind.
Samuel johnson, or Mingo Jack, as he was
better known, was about 6S years old and
leaves family He was at one time sue
cessful jockey Of late he had
been notorious for his many crimes
He had served several terms in prison
and was a cunning thief He earned lv-
ing, when he was not stealing, by doing odd
jobs for town tradesmen. Two years ago the
dead man was shot in the leg while attempt.
ing to commit highway robbery.