Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-01-10
4 WHOLESALE LYNCHING
Eight COlOred Men Taken From
Jail and Shot.
They Had Been Imprisoned on the
Charge of Murder.

A crowd of masked men early in the Nor
ing broke into Barnweu Is. c. jail, for
miles from Charleston, and lyncheI es--.
colOred prisoners, all charged with muri4-
The crowd numbered several hundred me,
The prisoners were taken out Of town 7-.f
shot. The TAILOR was tied and forcei ~ ..
company the lynchers. The whole thin r...
conducted in a skillful manner. III. cir .r.-.
OF the town not knowing anything a5r4-
After the lynching the jaiior was re.ra-...
The citizens of the town were Iguora.- ..s
any attempt on the jail. \ large crowd o.
coIOred men speedily cOngreCateI a. -r.
scene of the lynchinG and fears were r1..-.
TUNED of more trouble. The Goyaru...,.
appealed 10 for troops 10 preserve thu t...
The eight colOred men were CAar-aG w.-.
committing and being accesSorIa> 81 -..
crimes described below: On the aite"... ..
October 30 John J. HetFerman was ~..-..
instantly killed in n restaurant IL '.a ,.a.r
of Barnwell, by Ripley Johnson. Ii H.ra..,.
was one of the principal merchant ., ,..
town, and johnson was employee t-.-
time in running cottOn-Iin. There IN. f-au
some trouble between the white man au ...
COlOred man the day before. and a.....-..
there were conflicting accounts a p. H..
difficulty, it is probable that HeI-~us.
threatened the colored man, for re hal
been summoned to appear hefor. t..
town council the morning followIu- and
had been put under bonds. The killing rp,.
place in colored restaurant, where Hetfar-
man had followed Johnson. Five c.,YraI
men, charged with being accessories u the
murder, who were in the restaurant a. tl-
time fed to a swamp, but were shortly AZ
terward captured. a large reward Wa,
offered for Johnson, and he was captured
two weeks later.
The other night Robert Martin a Young
white man of great promise, was wy
laid and shot to death, while ridin- {
of hon De
o'clock in the evening. The young man
was within seventy-five yards Of %
cluster of cOlOred peoples houses on the ~l!.
of the road, when he was fired upon from D.,
hind. The occupants of the houses heard the
gun and heard the exclamation 'Oh. me-
Oh, me. you have killed me" but tnev liL
not 90 to the help of the wounded man
Martin was not missed that night by his
parents, as he was in the habit, on rrI.a.l,
home late, Of going to his own Top,r-.
which were separated from the res. %. ta.
house. In the morning a servant noted the
riderlesS horse at the gate. ana finding blood
on the saddle gave the ALARM and u ~nar..
was begun. The body of the youn- n.u
found on the side OF the punlic road W.T..
III a hundred wards Of the house ah.,.
mentioned. He had evidently live.
only few minutes. Five bullets had entered
his back. The young man had not an ea"u4,
in the county 50 far as any of his tr.o...
knew, and the community va, greatly
excited on ms .llLItLtI. II WAS SAl,l-l
discovered that Martin was shot Ug FL
party of cOlOred men who worked o.. h.
fathers place, and whom the vouu- luau ken,
pretty close to their work. allowing them
little license. 1t was also believed t.at the
people IN the houses near VIII re the 'au.ri"T
was committed knew all abuur Il. ami that
was the reason they would not 60 u lAa a.
sistance of the dying man.
The names OF the men lyucnal are
Ripley johnson. Mcneil Adams, Peter
Bell, ''Rafe' Morrel. Hugh FurI- Hudson
Johnson, Robert Phoenix and judge JDu--
They We're shot TO pieces. The firing was tire
first intimation the people of the town AdI %;
the trouble. 1t seemed to them II tn
colored people would rise up and avenge the
lynching. In Response to Il request. tn"
Governor ordered q company OF intanryaac
one Of cavalry to prepare for service. The
whites were armed and pretty well organ
lied
The leading men in Barnwel in the El@A'
sent out a circular stating III substance that
the people of that community hal b."I
greatly inceused by the repeated murder, q.
whites by cOlored men, three white
men of prominence having recently
been killed, that the trial or som.
of these coIOred men had been put Off that j.
seemed as if justice would not he done. Thy
could not explain their feelings, nor could
they hope for the outside world 10 under
stand how they felt at the repeated outrage.
but they were confident any other com
munitv in the country would have art-l I'll
the same manner.