The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-06-04
LYNCHING In ILLINOIS.
A NEGRO Swung UP FOR OUTRAG-
ING TWO WOMEN.
Only twenty-five Unmasked Men Com
posed the Mob and In the
Heart of the City.

DECATUR, ILL, June 3.-Early this
morning a mob attacked the county Jail
and lynched Samuel J. Bush, a negro
who made a criminal assault upon Mrs.
William II. Vest, in Mount Zion town
ship. last Tuesday.
The details of the lynching were sem
sational 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
o'clock twenty-five men came on 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 Sheriff Midkiff and Special Officer
Foster sat just inside. and refused them
admission. One blow from a sledge
crashed in the wooden door. and the Of
fcers were surrounded by twenty-five
armed men. The keys Of the jail were
demanded but both officers declared they
did not have them. The men then went
and worked forty minutes al two doors.
one Of solid iron and an inch thick and
the other Of steel bars, forcing them both.
Meanwhile the crowd Of Decatur peO-
pie stood quietly outside. No one seemed
10 care much. There was no talk OF re-
sistance, and the officers were not up
braided for making no more objection.
Marshal Mason forced his way through
the spectators and into the jail and start
ed to address the men at work They
seized him and crowded him out OF the
door. There was only an occasional yell,
and altogether II was a quiet attack on
Jail. A frightened negro inside pointed
out the cell. The men rushed in and
found II apparently empty. They jerked
over the mattress and lifted II up and out
tumbled the negro. He had crawled In
side. He was dragged into the street,
where 800 towns people had assembled.
and taken 10 a telegraph pole on one OF
the most prominent corners in the city |
and directly I'm front OF the courthouse. |
An are light made the street intersection |
as light as day. 4 rope made Of halter |
straps had been put around the negro's |
neck. When the crowd stopped az 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 bricks and
began TO pray I'm n sing-song way. He
would call on Jesus 10 come and take his
soul and forgive the men who were muir
dering him. and then declare that he was
innocent. He prayed disconnectedly fully
ten minutes. while a thousand people
crowded around as close together as they
could many jesting ana not one seeming
impressed with the awfuness OF the
scene Finally the spectators began 10
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"
he said; che gave that woman no time"
Others took up the cry. "Hang him.
he's prayed enough" they yelled. The
rope was handed TO the man on the pole.
He put It over a 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 cab, the cab :
driven under the pole the rope fastened
10 cross arm, hack driven away and the
nan was hanged till dead.
The coroner cut him down.
Among the lynchers was William Vest
husband Of the second woman outraged.
and Rolla Dill, brother Of the first woman
assaulted.
Bush was born at Mason. Miss, in 1860.
30 he said. His father and a brother live .
|
months ago. and has been doing odd Jobs
iround Decatur about six weeks. Mon
lay, II is charged, he went 20 the house y
II Mrs. 3. Dill and committed an assault | y
m her About IL o'clock Tuesday morn
ng Bush, il is alleged went to the house
t William Vest, eight miles from De-
atur, In Mount Zion township and finding :
he woman alone outraged her I'm the pre-
ence Of her small children She only
ucceeded in escaping further outrage by
him money. News Of the crime J
oread over the township and the farmers {
ropped their work and turned out TO {
unit the negro, who however. kept in 4
he brush until he got about twenty-five ]
liles away. Then he came out and was Z
aptured. He admitted being at Vests b
nd Selling Mrs. Vest by the arm just TO b
care her. He denied outraglng her. A
eighbor Identified him as having been a
ear the Vest house. +
II was the first lynching that ever oc- Y
irred In Macon county. The hundreds Of q
tizens around the scene to-day took | p
coolly. though they condemned the
FED. II is thought there will not be any q
-Osecution. g