The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-04

Twenty-Five Marked Men Forced an
Entrance Into the Jail and Secured
Their Mana Rope Made of Halters
Suspends The Body from a Telegraph
Pole-A Big Crowd of Spectators.
Decatur, ILL.,, June 3.-Early this morn
ing mob attacked the county Jail and
lynched Samuel J. Bush, the negro who
made a criminal assault upon Mrs. Will
lam H. Vest in Mount Zion township last
Tuesday.
The details of the lynching were sensa-
tional 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 300 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 on a rush
up Wood street. They were quiet
but wore masks and moved in a solid
body They forced their way through
the crowd and knocked ON the jail door.
Deputy Sheriff Midkiff and Special Officer
Foster sat just inside and refused them
admission. One blow from a sledge ham
mer crashed in the wooden door and the
officers were surrounded by twenty-five
armed men. The keys of the Jail were
demanded, but both officers declared that
they did not have them.
BATTERED DOWN THE DOORS.
The men then went to work with sledge
hammers and chisels and worked forty
minutes at two doors, one of solid iron an
inch thick, and the other of steel bars,
forcing them both Meanwhile 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 upbraided for making no more Obiec-
tions. 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
quiet at the Jail A frightened
negro inside the Jail pointed out Bush's
cell. Three men rushed in and found it
apparently empty. They jerked over the
mattress and lifted it up and out tumbled
the negro. He had crawled inside. He
was dragged into the street where ], 800
townspeople had Assem- bled, and was
taken to a telegraph pole on one of the
most prominent corners in the city, di
rectly in front of the court house. An
arc light made the street intersection as
light as day. A rope made of halter
straps had been put around the negro's
neck.
GIVEN TINE TO PRAY.
When the crowd stopped at the foot of
the pole he asked for time to pray The
men said: "Give him all the time he
wants" He knelt down on the brick and
began to pray in a sing song way. He
would call on Jesus to come and take his
soul and forgive the men who were mur-
dering him, and then declare that he
was innocent. He prayed disconnectedly
fully ten minutes, while thousand people
crowded around as close together as they
could, many jesting, and no one seeming
impressed with the awfulness of the
scene. Finally the spectators be-
gan to get impatient. A man
had climbed half way up the pole and
stood in the glare of the light all the
time. "Cut that short,n he said, ''he
gave those women no time" Others took
up the cry. Hang him; he's prayed
enough they yelled. A rope was
handed to the man at the pole. He put
it over wire and the crowd pulled. The
negros 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 a cab. The cab
was driven under the pole. The rope
was fastened to a cross arm, the
cab driven away and the man was hanged
till dead. The coroner cut him down.
Among the lynchers was William Vest,
husband of the second woman outraged,
and Rolla Dill, brotherOf the first woman
assaulted.
THE NEGRO's RECORD.
Bush was born at Mason, Miss, in 1860
He said his father and brother live there.
He came north three or four months ago
and has been doing odd jobs around
Decatur about six weeks. Monday, it is
charged he went into the house of Mrs.
B. Dill and committed an assault on her.
About II o'clock Tuesday morning Bush,
it is alleged. went to the house OF Will
lam Vest eight miles from Decatur, in
Mount Zion township, and, finding the
woman alone, outraged her in the pres
ence of her small children. She only sue
ceeded in escaping further outrage by
promising him money. News of the crime
spread over the township, and farmers
dropped their work and turned out to
hunt the negro. who, however, kept in
the brush until he got about twenty-five
miles away. Then he came out
and was captured. He admitted being at
Vests and seizing Mrs. Vest by the arm
Just to scare her. He denied Outraglng
her. A neighbor identified him as having
been near Vests house
It was the first lynching that has ever
occurred in Macon county. Hundreds Of
citizens around the scene to-day took it
coolly, though they condemned the deed.
1t is thought there will not be any prose-
cutions.
THE GOVERNOR TO TAKE A HAND.
etnrinrfeld III June 3.-Gov. Altgeld
proposes to take cognizance of the lynch
ing of the negro, Samuel J. Bush, by citi-
zens of Decatur He wired State AT
torney Mills to-day to forward at once all
the facts in regard TO the lynching of
Bush and also what effort the iailer made
to protect the victim.