, 1888-04-07
Howe's Awful Death.

DENVER. April Ga Fort Collins
special to the Republican says: The
lynching of j. H. Howe Wednesday
night pricked the bubble of public sus-
pense and excitement, and to day a feel
ing of relief pervaded the community. 1t
is a singular fact hat there Is little con-
fict of opinion as to the propriety of the
awful deed which launched a human soul
from time into eternity. Unlike similar
occasions, usually-where the law-and-
order elements of society favor upholding
the dignity Of the law and allowing courts
OF Justice to assume the responsibility of
deciding the matter, the aggravated and
causeless nature OF this case was so evil
dent that the outraged people. ~. k Justice
into their own hands.
Not only. laboring men and merchants,
but professional men, doctors, lawyers
and ~clergymen, strange as it may appear,
attended the execution, and none OPP
posed, with the exception of the sheriff
and his posse, the execution of the un-
written warrant.
A meeting of citizens was held early in
the evening in a vacant business room on
Linden street, where the murder and the
details for the lynching were discussed
and plans formulated. Shortly after 8
o'clock the electric lights were extin-
guisEed by ~disconnecting the wire from a
lamp and this was the signal for opening
the CHASTITY programme. Sheriff Davy
apprehended trouble. He had guards
stationed about the Jail and five or six
men Of nerve within, but the attack was
50 sudden and the darkness 50 intense
that resistance was impossible.
About thirty men advanced at a double
quick across Oak street to the front door
Of the stone jail, and while three or four
pinioned the burly sheriff. the balance
forced the outside door, and in two min
utes they had broken the huge lock which
fastened the strong door of the Jail.
The attacking party had all the neces-
sary tools, and their entrance wa almost
unimpeded. As Howe heard the door
being broken down he cried tor mercy,
and continued his beseeching till at the
scaffold. As his cell door opened he
walked into the arms of his executioners,
who speedily bore him to the rear of the
new court house, where stands a scaffold
about thirty feet high, used for hauling
up mortar for the workmen. A rope
dangled from the pulley, just as it had
been left by the masons. Howe was placed
under it, his feet and hands pinioned and
a moose adjusted about his neck, in less
time than it takes to describe it.
At this juncture a voice cried, Let
him speak, AS the opportunity was
given, he only said: Gentlemen, once
more | ask you to spare my lifel'' His
request was greeted with a howl of 1eri-
sion, and a moment later he leaped into
the air, as two scores of strong arms
tugged at the further end of the rope
He kicked and drew himself up three or
four times, and several minutes elapsed
before life was extinct. The body was
cut down and taken to the hose house,
which crowds visited to view the body
during the day.
The poor wife's remains lie at Under
taker Ralph's and many have been at
tracted thither by morbid curiosity as also
to the scene of the tragedy where the life
blood of Hawe's victim stains the carpet,
door-sill, gate and fence for thirty feet.
Probably no community in the West is
more disposed to be ~law-abiding and
peaceable than Fort Collins, but the ex-
IRENE cruelty and needlessness of Howe's
act so inflamed the public mind that re-
s~istance was useless, Possibly after a few
days elapse and sober second thought
comes into action an attempt may be
made to establish the supremacy of the
law, but it appears doubtful whether any
successful prosecutions can be made.