Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-04-02
EIENp

Thursday evening" about 2 o'clock.
the ten year old daughter Of Mr.. VIM.
GroOme, who lives in Springfield, was
sent down town on an eFrand BY her
elder sister, and as she returned, and
when passing the fruit stand, next "a
Wilson's drug store, on Jackson road,
belonging to an Italian by the
name Of Fred. Villarosa, or "John
Benan," as he is called by the children
of that part Of the city, she was lift
ed from the sidewalk by some one with
strong arms from behind her, her sum
bonnet drawn down over her face, and
conveyed to the rear room of the
small store. The door was then closed
and she found herself in the grasp of
the hurley Italian who attempted to
COMMIT AN OUTRAGE
upon her, language sufficiently strong
to describe which could not be used in
these columns, and his hellish purpose
was only frustrated by the screams Of
the child attracting acolored boy by the
name of Tom -, who works next
door. He ran in and saw the child in
Fred's clutches, he trying to pacify and
quiet her by every means in his power.
As soon as he discovered that the at
tention of the neighbors was
directed to him, he relinquished
his hold upon her and offered
her a dollar not to cry or say
anything about it. She refused
to take his money. and he placed it in
her mouth and said 'takee dat, don't
cry" She threw the money at him
and ran through the door. which had
been opened by this time,) and con-
tinued to run and cry until she reached
home, where, between fits IF crying
and sobbing, she managed to tell what
had occurred. Mr.. Groome came in a
few minutes afterwards and was in
formed by her as to the facts. His
impulse, a very natural one, was to
aVeDge the wrongs to his child and lie
left the house for that purpose, but
his friends, who met him on the road,
taking a cooler view of the situation
prevailed upon him to desist and
LET THE LAW TAKE ITS COURSE.
1t was a severe task upon him to
submit to this, but the counsel
Of his friends prevailed and he sub.
mitted to their plan Of having Vile
rosa arrested. Affidavit was made be-
fore Esquire James Strother, who had
him arrested and then committed him
to the county Jail to await the action
of the grand jury now in session.
The negro boy, Tom -, corro-
bated the statement of the child in al
most every particular, and established
the same as a fact beyond a doubt,
The facts soon became current upon
the streets, and public sentiment was a
unit upon the question as to what
should be done in the premises. Old
and venerable citizens were seen in
the midst of groups of young and
middle aged men,
EXPRESSING THEIR INDIGNATION.
Representatives Of every nationally,
race and color freely expressed an
opinion that the course of the law
WAS TOO SLOW
and tedious to deal with cases
of this character. AS the shades
Of evening came on, rumors began to
gain that an attempt would be made
during the night to effect an entrance
to the county Jail and
TAKE vILLERosA OUT AND HANG HIM,
and the rumor was given tangible
coloring by the fact that groups of
men began to coDgregate on street
corners throughout the city, where the
sole topic of conversation was the
iendish deed of which he was accused.
Sheriff Worrell, through a strict
sense of duty to his official obligation,
took advantage of the darkness in the
early evening hours,
SPIRITED HIS PRISONER AWAY
from the Jail, and conveyed him to
parts unknown in the custody of Dep
uty Sheriffs Rigby and Bowie. A del
egation Of citizens, about six in num-
Der. called at the Jail, and night guard
Farrell came TO the door, threw it open
carelessly and asked what they want
ed. They asked II Villeroso waS
there, and were informed by Mr.. Far
rell that he was not, and at the same
time asking them to come in and
look for themselves. This was
a settler to the delegation, they had
been checkmated, and they soon con-
veyed the news to others Of those In
the neighborhood who were there for
the purpose Of looking after the pris-
oner. Every means in their power was
used to ascertain the whereabouts Of
the prisoner, but nothing was heard of
him until yesterd. morning, when
Deputy Sheriff Tom Rigby came in
from the four mile bridge, when 1t was
nolsed around that the pris-
oner was in that nsIghborhood.
and the object Of Sheriff Worrell was
to get his prisoner to jackson where
he could be safely kept within the
walls Of the State prison. It was also
ascertained that the morning freight
train had failed to stop at the four
mile bridge. The theory was then ad-
vanced that Deputy Sheriff Bowie and
his prisoner would try to get to Jack
son on the mail train, and a number