Los Angeles herald., 1892-03-10
THE MEMPHIS LYNCHING.
THREE NEGROES TAKEN FROM
THE JAIL AND SHOT.
Bodies of the Victims Horribly Mutilated.
The Blacks in the Vicinity Greatly
Excited-One Hundred and Fifty White
Men Armed With Winchesters.

MEMPHIS, Tenn, March 9.-This morn
ing's light disclosed the dead bodies of
the three negroes taken from Jail, rid
died with bullets and partly covered
with brush, and lying in an open lot
about mile and half from the heart
OF the city. The negroes had been
taken from jail by seventy-five masked
men this morning aud shot to death.
The names of the victims are Calvin
Mcdowell, William Stuart and Theodore
Moss.
The crime for which this summary
vengeance was wreaked upon them was
the ambushing and shooting down Sat-
urday night OF four deputy sheritfs, in
the locality known as 1.-THE curve"
while the officers were looking for
negro for whose arrest they had war
rant.
About O'Clock this morning seventy
five men, all wearing masks, appeared
suddenly on Front street, near the Jail.
By a ruse three men obtained entrance
to the Jail yard and overpowered Watch
man O'Donnell. whom they bound and
gagged. The others were then admitted
and search for the negroes was begun.
A guard in the meantime had been put
over the watchman. There were twenty
seven negroes there, all under arrest for
completely in Saturday nights affair,
and it was no easy task to distinguish
the three negroes wanted. They went
from cell to cell, the thoroughly alarmed
inmates coming to the doors and unwit-
tingly aiding them in the search. Alice
| .Inn vi ho ,,oscn and hor
cell in the upper tier peered down on
the strange and silent crowd. Moss, a
mail carrier, the first man identified,
| was taken from his cell and bound and
gagged, and soon after Mcdonald and
| Stuart were found and taken care of in
| the same way.
The captives being ready, they were
| dragged, pushed and hurried out of Jail.
In a few minutes the suburbs of the city
were reached, and in an open field near
| Wolf river the negroes met their doom.
A shot from a revolver crashed through
the cheek of Moss. This was a signal
| for the work. A terrible volley was
poured in upon the shivering negroes,
who instantly fell dead. The bodies
presented horrible sight. McDowell's 8
jaw was entirely shot away, and back OF
| his right ear WAS hole large enough to
admit a mars fist. His right hand,
too, was half blown off. Stuart was shot
in the mouth and twice in the back of
the head, and his body was riddled with
buckshot. Moss had an ear shot off and
several holes in the forehead. The mob
turned about after its horrible work,
and after coming toward town scattered
and disappeared.
The bodies OF the dead negroes were
brought to Walsh's Undertaking estab-
lishment this morning. In less than
fifteen minutes the place wassurrounded
by about twenty negroes, all afraid to
talk, however, on account OF the prox-
unity of the whites. An inquest was
held at 10 O'Clock and the bodies were
sent to their homes at ''the curve"
At 10:30 this morning word reached
this city that negroes were assembling
in large numbers at ''the curve" and
Judge Dubose Immediately equipped
ESQ men with Winchesters, and they
lave left the city for that locality.