The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1893-09-28
HIS BODY THEN CRBMATED.
Mayor and Commander Of the Militia
Leave Town.
TALK OF INDIGNATION MEETING.


Nine People KilIed-List of
the Dead and Wounded
More Trouble Feared
Acting Mayor
Buckner Issues
an Order.
ROANOKE, Va, September 81
One of the most daStardy crimes in
the history of Roanoke occurred at
about 10 o'clock Wednesday morning.
Mrs. Henry S, Bishop, aged about 80
years and respectable white woman
from Cloverdale, eight miles from
this city, was enticed by negro nam
ed Thomas Smith from the market,
where she had come to sell produce,
into an empty saloon basement where
he beat her into insensibility and
robbed her of her pocket book; con-
taining less than s.. The woman
was left for dead, but managed to
revive few moments later and crawl
el up the street where she told her
story.
The fiend in the meantime escaped
but was detected, from the description
given by Mrs. Bishop, boarding an
outgoing train. A cOlored man jump
Ell on the car and grabbing the Grim
inal the two fell to the ground. A
crowd immediatly surrounded the
prisoner and threats of lynching were
loud and frequent. Detective w. w.
Baldwin seized the man, holding the
crowd at bay with his revolver, start
ed on horseback with the frightened
negro behind him. He rode to the
saloon where the woman had been re-
moved and she positively identified
him. He was then taken to jail. A
crowd gathered around the jail and
kept increasing as night approached.
At o'clock the Rua noke Light Infan-
try marched to the Jail by order of
Mayor Trout. Guards were posted
and the streets in the immediate
vicinity cleared. About dark the
crowd was increased by a hundred
men from the vicinity Of the wOman's
home, headed by Mrs. Bishops son, a
fireman on the Norfolk s. Western
Railroad.
AT eight O'Clock a portion of the
Jail where the militia and Mayor
Trout had retired. The shooting was
commenced by the mob and the may
or shot in the foot. The militia were
then ordered to return the fire and
yOlley from about % 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 them fatally. During the excite
ment caused by the volley, the negro
was taken from the jail by an officer
and secreted. The dead and wounded
were removed to a drug store and to
the offices Of nearby physicians.
The militia then dispersed and left
the scene as quietly as possible.
LATER PARTICULARS.
A squad of twenty men took the
negry Smith from three police men,
just before O'Clock this morning,
and hanged him to hickory limb on
Ninth avenue southwest, in the resi-
dence section Of the city. They rid
died his body with bullets, and left
placard on his body: This is Mayor
Trout's friend"
A coroner's jury of business men
viewed the body of the negro and
rendered verdict of death at the
hands of unknown men," Thousands
lynching between daylight and $50
o'clock when the body was cut down.
After the jury completed the work
the body was placed in the hands of
officers, who were unable to keep back
the mob. Three hundred men tried
to drag the body through the streets
of the town, but Rev. DR.. Campbell
pastor of the First Presbyterian
church, and Capt. r. B. Norman,
with pleas and main strength pre-
vented them.
Capt. Moorman hired a wagon and
had the body put in it. Itwas then con-
veyed to the bank of the Roanoke riv-
er, about one mile from the scene of
the iynching. The negro was dragged
from the wagon by a rope about two
hundred yards. A pile of dry lumber
and brush wood was placed upon the
bo ly, leaving only the head bare. The
Wnoie was saturated with coal oil and
! match applied. The body was con-
sumed within an hour. The crema-
| thug was witnessed by several thousand
| people.
The mob threatened at one time to
bury the negro in Mayor Trout's yard.
| There is much indignation against
| Mayor Trout and the military.
| Threats of vengeance have been open
ly made. Capt. Bird, commander OF
the militia, has left town. Mayor
| Trout has also disappeared and Presi-
dent Buckner, of the city council, Is
acting Mayor.
| Excitement is running high. There
is now talk of the citizens holding an
indignation meeting and it is rumored
on the streets that threats are being
made to burn the town unless salts
faction of some sort is rendered.
Crowds throng the streets and all
the public places. There is an inn
mense crowd in front of Oakley and
Weolwine's, undertakers, where seven
| of the dead bodies lie.
| The number of dead was exagger.
ated last night and it is now found
| that only nine men are dead. A re
yised list of the dead are as follows:
] s. "A Wick, proprietor of st. James
| Hotel.
VIM Sheet, a fireman on N &c w.
Chas. Whitmire, conductor n s. w
/ J B Tyler, of Blue Ridge, a section
master on the n s. W.
George White, shot through the
| lpu and hind f0 death