The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-02-02

lined with other thousands watching HIM
pass. 1t was rs solemn as befitted q
cortege of the dead. Limp and quivering
and ashen with the agony Of thought and
the horror of his impending doom. the fig
ure OF Henry Smith was an awful sight.
THE FATHERS REVENGE.
Out on the bare prairie. where stood scat
tering bols d'arcs shrubs, the scaffold had
been built. Four uprights supported, ten
feet above around. platform ten feet
square, rallied in. except on the south side,
where stair assembled. In its center
strong post was set and braced on either
side. As the wagon approached Henry
Vance, the father of Smiths victim, ap-
peared on the platform and asked
the crowd, now Gensely packed for
hundreds of yards away and numbering
ten thousand people, to be quiet, saying
that he wanted for awhile to get his re-
venge and then he would turn his prisoner
over to any one that wanted him. Now
came the wagon and Smith was carried up
on to the platform. stripped to the waist
and placed against the stake. His legs.
arms and body were securely corded to 1t
and he was delivered over to Vance's ven.
geance and to explate his crime.
timers furnace was then brought on
filled with irons heated white. Taking
one, Vance thrust it under first one and
then the other side OF his victims feet,
who, helpless, writhed as the flesh SCARED
and pealed from the bones. Slowly inch
by inch, up his legs the iron was drawn
and redrawn, only the nervous jerky twist
Of the muscles showing the agony bel ng
endured. When his body was reach ed,
and the iron was pressed to Its
most tender part, he broke the
silence for the first time, and
prolonged scream Of agony rent the air.
Slowly across and around the body, slowly
upward, traced the iron. the withersd
SCARED flesh marking the progress of the
awful punishment. By turns Smith
screamed. prayed. begged and cursed his
torturer. When his face was reached his
tongue was siienced by fire. and thence
forth he only moaned or gave o cry that
echoed over the prairie like the wall of q
wild animal. Then his eyes were put ont,
and. not fingers breadth Of his body be-
ing unscathed, his execution or gave way.
Smith and the clothing ab Mt his lower
limbs were then saturated W tn oil, as was
the. platform. The space beneath was filled
with combustIbles. and the whole was
covered with oil. and fire simultaneously
set to his feet and the stack be-
low. Slowly the flames wrapped him
in their blush veil. A moment they
burned SO, and then a shudder shook
the throng. The head slowly raised
and broken, quivering cry broke the
breathless silence, and was echoed back by
shouts and cries from the more thoughtless
below. Then the cords binding the arms
burned and he raised the crisped and
blackened stumps to wipe the sigh tloss
sockets of his eyes.
When the cords about his waist had
burned he toppled forward upon the plat
form and lay there writhlng and quivering
in the greedy flames. One foot was
still fast and held him on the
bed of flame. With one supreme
effort the body. still animated by the
szSpreme desire of escape rolled over on Its
face. rose upon its arms, reached up ana
caught the railing, and, with convulsive
efforts. tore the bound leg loose. and stood
reeling on the stumps of his feet. 1t
dragged itself nearly upright against the
railing and then dropped, sitting upon the
burning platform. Its head and arms lying
upon the railing. and the legs dangling over
the edge, and there hung O moment as
though this had nearly exhausted
It's little strength. Then, as the flames
roared around him, by another effort he
slipped over the edge and fell to the
ground. The body lay there still, but was
thrust into the mass of fire beneath the
scaffold, from which it came In few min.
utes crawling out only to be thrust back
again, and debris of the fire was piled on
top, and SO did death come 70 Henry
Smith.
The Story Told in Another Way.
Associated Press Dispatch.
PARIS. Tex, Feb. 1.-Henry Smith, the
negro ravisher of four.year.old Myrtle
Vance, has expiated in part his awful
crime by death at the stake. Ever since
the perpetration of his crime this city and
the entire surrounding country has been In
wild frenzy of excitement. When the
news came last night that he had been
captured at Hope, Ark; that he had been
identified by b. B. Sturgeon, James. I.
Hicks and many others of the Paris search
ing party, the oity was wild with JOY over
his apprehension. Hundreds of people
poured into the city from the adjoining
country and the word passed from lip to
lip that the punishment of the fiend should
fit the crime-that death by fire was the
penalty Smith should pay for the most
atrOciOus murder and terrible outrage in
Texas history. The curious and sympa-
thizer alike came on trains and In wagons,
on horse and on foot to see il the frall
mind OF man could think of O way to suffi-
GENTLY punish the perpetratOr of so ter
rlble crime. The whisky shops were
closed. unruly mobs were dispersed, schools
were dismissed by proclamation from the
Mayor. and everything was done in q bus
iness-lIke manner. Officers saw the futility
of an effort to stop the work of the people.
So law was laid aside. and the citizens
took into their own hands the inhuman
beast and burned him at the stake.
Mover before nor since the days of the
Spanish inquisiton, when cruelty was
law, has there been such terrible punish
ment meted out to any man. but so horrible
was the crime that the punishment, severe
as it was. was deemed meIited.
On Thursday last Henry Smith. q big.
burly negro. picked up little Myrtle ance,
aged three and half years near tn q home