The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-09-26
BLOODY RIOT AND LxNoHING.


ROANOKE, VA, Sept. 20.-One of the
most dastardly crimes in the history O.
the city occurred at about ten o'cloch
this morning. Mrs. Henry S. Bishop
aged about fifty years, and q respecta
BILE white woman, from Cloverdale
eight miles from this city, was enticed
by negro named Thomas Smith, from
the market, whore she had come tc
sell produce, into an empty saloon
basement. There he beat her into in
sensibility and robbed her of her
pocketbook, containing less than 81
The woman was left for dead, but man.
crawlcd up to the street, where she
told her story.
y The fiend had in the meantime es-
y capped. but was detected, from the de-
scription given by Mrs. Bishop, board.
ing an outgoing train. A colored man
jumped ON the car, and grabbing the
criminal, the two fell to the ground.
A crowd Immediately surrounded the
prisoner and threats of lynching were
loud and frequent. Detective w. w.
Baldwin seized the man, and holding
the crowd at bay with his revolver,
started on horseback, with the fright
ened negro behind him. He rode to
the saloon where the wounded woman
was removed, and she positively identi-
fled him. He was then taken to jail.
A crowd gathered around the Jail,
and kept increasing as night ap-
preached. Ats o'clock the Roanoke
Light Infantry marched to the jail, by
order of Mayor Trout. Guards were
posted and the streets in the immediate
vicinity cleared. About dark the
mon from the vicinity of the woman's
home, headed by Mrs. Bishops son, O
fireman on the Norfolk and Western
railroad.
At s o'clock q portion of the mob
battered at d side door of the Jail,
where the militia and Mayor Trout
had retired, The shooting was COM
menced by the mob and the mayor was
shot in the foot. The militia were
then ordered to return the fire, and u
volley from about twenty-five rifles was
poured into the mob. 1t is thought
that about five men were killed by this
fire and as many more wounded, some
of thom fatally.
During the excitement caused by the
volley, the negro was taken from the
jail by an officer and secreted. The
dead and wounded were removed to q
drug store and to the Offices of nearby
physicians. The militia were then
dispersed, and left the scene as quietly
as possible
The list of casualties include nine
dead and twenty wounded. Mayor
Trout was shot in the foot, and was
removed to place of safety, if not car
ried out of the town, because the mob
was greatly incensed at his course in
ordering the militia to fire upon them.
Several speeches were made after
the militia retired, and Judge Woods
assured the mob that the negro Smith
had been removed from the Jail, and
accompanied two of the crowd through
the Jail to prove the truth of the state
,nent. His statement and the speech
of j. Allen Watts, the Democratic can
didate for the State Senate, did much
TO pacify the crowd. But they hung
around the Jail and adjacent streets for
several hours afterwards, many dis
persing to search for the secreted
prisoner. At midnight the scene had
quieted down, and no further trouble is
expected. The militia remain under
the mayors orders, although it is prob
able that they will not be called out
again. Mayor Trout is firm in the po-
Sition he assumed, and declares that he
will uphold the laws.
The dead were removed to the un-
dertaking establishments and will be
prepared for burial.
ROANOKE, Va, September 21.--
Never, even in times of war, has the
quiet old city of Roanoke witnessed
rbloodier scenes than those enacted last
might and this morning.
The brutal assault Of the negro Tom
Smith on Mrs. Henry s. Bishop yester-
day was quickly followed by the attack
on the jail, as was feared. Late in the
afternoon q crowd began to gather
l4 ,,,1
ed out the Roanoke Light Infantry as
guard around the Jail.
a fireman on the Norfolk and West
ern, who is a son of Mrs. Bishop, took
the lead of the mob and at eight o'clock
the attack was made and the Jail doors
battered in. Then the mob fired on
the soldiers and the mayor, shooting
the latter through the foot, and the
soldiers were ordered to return the fire,
which, at such close range, was fear
fully fatal.
During the excitement the negro was
removed from the Jail, while the work
occupied the attention of the mob.
Nine men were killed outright and
the tenth died soon afterwards. The
wounded were removed to drug store
and physicians summoned, who did all
they could o/relieve their sufferings.
The soldiefs having left the Jail, the
mob then quicted down and it is
thought that all the trouble is over.
There were upwards of five thousand
people around the Jail.
a squad of twenty men took the
negro Smith from three policemen,
4 just before 5 o'clock this morning and
hanged him to q hickory limb on Ninth
avenue, in the residence section of the
city. They riddled the body with bul.
lets and left a placard on it reading
''This is Mayor Trouts friend"
A cOroners jury of business men was
Summoned and viewed the body of the
negro and rendered q verdict Of death
at the hands of unknown men. Thous.
ands Of people visited the scene of the
lynching between daylight and $3.50
o'clock, when the body was cut down
After the jury had completed their
work the body was placed in the hands
of the officers, who were unable to keeL
back the mob. Three hundred mon
tried to drag the body through the
streets of the town, but the Rev. DR.
Campbell, of the First Presbyterian
church, and Captain r.. B. Norman,
with pleas and main strength, prevent
ed them. Captain Norman hired q
wagon and had the body put in it.
1t was then conveyed to the bank o.
the Roanoke, about one mile from the
scene of the lynching. The dead
negro was dragged from the wagon by
"a rope about two hundred yards ant
burned on pile OF dry lumber. The