Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1893-06-08
LYKcHlKe UP NORTH.
Sensational Features from Beginning
to end.-3Ko6ody Cared Mueh-
No talk of Resisidncs-A thousand
People Tested While the Kctim
Prayed.

no tax OF heSfSf0nc6-A 1HOuS0H0
People Tested While the Nctm
Prayed.
DECATUR, ILL, June 3.-Early
this morning a mob attacked the
county Jail and lynched Samuel
j. Bush, a negro who made q felo-
NOUS assault upon Mrs. William
ii. Vest in Mt. Zion township last
Tuesday.
The details Of the lynching were
sensational from start to finish.
Bush was in jail awaiting trial. A
guard of twelve men had been put
in the Jail and an extra force OF men
were put on duty outside. About
three hundred curious people stood
around the Jail all night, though
most of them thought no serious
attempt would be made to take the
prisoner out. At just 2 O'Clock
twenty-five men came in a rush up
Wood street. They were quiet,
without masks, and moved in a
solid body. They forced their way
through the crowd and knocked on
the jail door. Deputy-Sherif
MidkiH and Specialize Officer Foster
sat just inside and refused them
admission. One blow from a
sledge crashed in the woodwork
of the door. and the officers were
surrounded by twenty-five armed
men. The keys Of the Jail were des
mandel, but both officers declared
they did not have them The men
went to work with sledgeshammers
and chisels and worked forty minu-
ties at two doors, one Of solid iron an
inch thick and the other Of steel
bars, forcing them both.
Mean while the crowd of Decatur
people stood quietly outside. No
one seemed to care much. There
was no talk of resistance, and the
officers were not unbraided for
making no o objection.
TIE MOB DETERMINED.
Marshal Mason forced his way
through the spectators and into the
Jail and started to address the men
at work. They seized him and
crowded him out of the door. There
was only an occasional yell, and
altogether it was a quiet attack
on a jail. A frightened negro inside
pointed out Bush's cell. Three men
rushed in aud found it apparently
empty. They jerked over the mat
tress and lifted it up and on: tum-
bled the negro. He had crawled in
J side. He was dragged into the
street where 1900 townspeople had
assembled, and taken to a tele-
graph-pole on one OF the most
prominent corners in the city, and
directly in front OF the courthouse.
An arc-light made the street ins
tersection as light as day. A rope
! made of halter straps had been put
around the Negroes neck. When
the crowd stopped at the foot of
!. the pole, Bush asked for time to
pray. The men said: s.Giye him all
the time he wants." He knelt down
on the bricks and began to pray in
a singssong way, He would ask
> that the men who were ''murdering
him" be forgiven, and then declare
that he was innocent. He prayed
dieconnectedly fully ten minutes
while a thousand people crowded
5 around as closely together as they
; could, many jesting, and not one
seeming impressed with the awfuls
ness OF the scene.
THE PRAYING TOUT sHoRT.n
81 Finally the spectators began te
f get impatient. A man had climbed
, half way up the pole and stood ir
) the glare of the light all the time
l "Cut that Short" he said ."He
gave those women no time" The
crowd took up the cry, "Hang him;
; he's prayed enough" they yelled
i. The rope was handed to the mar
on the pole. He put it " a wire
and the crowd pulled. The Degro's
body, now naked, swung up into
sight, four feet from the ground
| and fell back, The negro uttered
no sound. He was put on top of {
cab and driven under the pole, The
rope was fastened to a cross-arm
the cab was driven away, and the
negro was hanged till dead. The
} Coroner cut him down this morn,
. ing.
! Among the lynchers was William
!, Vest, husband Of the second wo'
8 man, and Rolla Dill, brother of the
, first woman assaulted.
THE NEGRo's CRIMES,
Bush was born at Mason, Miss.
in 1860, SO he said. His father ane
a brother live there. He came
North three or four months age
and has been doing odd Jobs around
Decatur about six weeks. Monday,
!, it is charged, he went to the house
of Mrs. B. Dill and committed ar
assault on her. About IL O'Clock
Tuesday morning, it is alleged. he
: went to the house of William Vest
eight miles from Decatur, in Mt.
{ Zion township and finding the wo4
man alone, assaulted her in the
presence of her small children. She
: only succeeded,in escaping finally
v r. a.---. L. NJ -