Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-02-26
HANGED TO AN OLD OAK.

INC mluplSHl NUN VI d mdShtu rdllI
Joe Burns Taken from the Jail Ia
ManlnSburg-hc Confessed his
Crime With the Rope
About His Neck.
MARTINsBURG, w. VA, Feb.
19.-Many residents Of this city
were aroused from their slumbers
about midnight last night by the
tramping of horses through the
streets and the sound of voices
The cavalcade that thus disturbed
the quiet town was a party of one
hundred masked men who we're
taking the colored prisoner, Joe
Burns, who brutally outraged Miss
Mary FeIlers on the 9Th inst, to a
tall tree about two miles down the
Winchester road, from which his
body was fouGd hanging this morn
ing. Ever since the crime was
committed the feeling against the
prisoner had been growing. Men
quietly listened to the cOunsels of
the Mayor and other authorities
urging that no violence be attempt
ed, but that the law be allowed TO
take its course, and justice would
be done. The advice, however,
was little needed, and it is now
learned that arrangements for the
lynching had been in progress for
a week. Several secret meetings
were held, which, it was rumOred,
were attended by relatives of the
victim of the negroes brutality, aNd
also by a young man who had been
paying attention to Miss Fellers.-
1t was reported that her father had
sworn to kill. On Wednesday the
authorities got an inkllng of the
desperate plans in progress, and
removed Burns from the upper cell
in the Jail to the cellar. About
eleven o'clock last night the vigi.
lance committee organized just
outside of the town, and soon the
number was swelled to more than a
hundred determined men, most of
them mounted. All were masked,
or rather had their features con.
cealed, some of them only wearing
handkerchiefs attached to their
hats and hanging down over their
faces. \ few looked tragically
grotesquc in comic masks, which
no doubt had been worn at a merry
making. At the hour Of midnight
the party rode to the Jail. The
leader, "a tall, powerful.loOking
man, with a white mask, alighted,
called up the jailor, and demand
cd the prisoner. The parley was
short. There was no use attempt
ing to resist this crowd of angry,
resOlute men, and they were per
mitted to enter. The officers re-
fused to tell them were the prison
er was, in the hope that they
would not find him. 4 number of
the men at once began a search Of
the building from top to bottom,
and finally found Burns secreted in
the cellar. He had heard the m
coming, and was trembling with
fear. AS the leader shot the rays
Of his lanterl on the Negroes face,
the wretch dropped down on his
knees, and begged hard for his
life. His arms were piniOned be-
hind him, and his legs tied. He
was then carried through the jail,
and laid in wagon in waiting
The crowd quietly mounted their
horses, and with the wagon in the
center of the cavalcade, clattered
of on the Winchester turnpike.
About fifty men and boys, who had
been attracted by the raid on the
Jail, followed.
SWUNG FROM A TREE.
Several men were in the wagon
with the prisoner, and on the way
he continued begging and praying
that they would not hang him.
Two miles down the pike stands a
big oak tree near the roadside
When the leader reached this point
he called halt, the crowd dis
and Burns was taken ont
Of the wagon. His feet were I'M
tied, but he could not stand. His
knees shook like reeds in a gale,
and he dropped on his knees by the /
foot Of the tree. "IIurry up /
the leader, and a
strong hemp rope was tied in a
moose and slipped over the head Of |
The doomed man. Burns was then /
asked If he had anything to say.
He confessed his crime said the !
levi prompted him to the brutal
Iced, and concluded by saying:
'Gcmmen, dis is ollul rough, but |
Knows it serbs me right
Burns was then given five min
ltes in which to pray. lie clasped
lis trembling hands and tried to
,ray, but he did not know what to
ay further than so Lord o
ord -
When time was up the rope was
brown over a thick bough of the
I'D oak, and IN an instant half
IOzen strong men gave it a long
'ull, and Buns swung around in
he air. He was almost Instantly
trangled, and in a few minutes
vas dead. The crowd dispersed,
elving him hanging. The body
vas cut down this morning, and
yill be buried by some colored
riends of The dead man. Some of
he lynchlng party were known to
he authorities, but It is not likely
hat any of them will be prosecut-
Il.
THE TERRIBLE CRIME.
Miss Mary Fellers, the young
1oman who was assaulted by
Burns, is about eighteen years of
ge. She is a good.lOoking, modest
.irl, and very popular, She had
Lenn a domestic In the nmnlnY of