Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1893-02-09
BURNED AT THE STAKE.
LITTLE MYRTLE vANcE'S HOR-
RIBLE DEATH, AVENGED.
Henry Smith, the Negro Fiend, Tortured
with Red-Hot brands for His Awful
Crime-Preparations Deliberately Made
and Thousands Take a willing Part.
A Terrible Punishment.

A Terrible Punishment.
Henry Smith, the Paris (Tex.) negro
who first abused then killed 4-year- old
Myrtle Vance, has expiatei in part his
awful crime by death at the stake.
Ever since the perpetration OF his awful
crime the city and entire surrounding
country has been in wild frenzy OF ex-
citement. When the news came that
he had been captured near Hope, Ark,
that he had been identified by b. b.
| Sturgeon, James L. Hicks and many
others or the Paris searching party. the
city was wild with Joy over the appre.
hension OF the brute. Hundreds ol
people poured into the city from the
adjoining country, and the word passed
from lip to lip that the punish.
ment of the fend should fit the crime
that death by fire was the penalty Smith
| should pay. The curious and sympn-
thetic alike came on train and wagons
on horse and on foot, TO see il the frail
mind of mind could think OF way tC
sufficiently punish the perpetrator OF
so terrible crime. Whisky shops were
! closed. unruly mobs were dispersed
| schools were dismissed by proclama'
| tion from the Mayor, and everything was
| done in a business-li like manner. ON
GERS saw the futilty of any effort to
uuell the almost riot. So law was laid
aside, and the citizens took into theil
own hands the inhuman beast anC
| burned him at the stake. Never before
since the days of the Spanish inquisi
| ton, when cruelty was law, has there
been such terrible punishment mete(
out to any man; but so horrible was the
crime, in its magnitude so inhuman 8nC
so CHASTITY, that the punishment inflicted
/ upon him was infinitely small in con-
! pArison.
He was brought through Texark ana
where 5000 people awaited the train
anxious to see a man who should re-
ceive the fate OF Ed Coy. At thatplact
speeches were made by prominent Paris
citizens, who asked that the prisoner b'
not molested by Texarkana people, bu
that the guard be allowed to deliver
him up to the outraged and Indignant
citizens of Paris. Arriving in Paris
the train was met by a surging mass o
humanity 10000 strong. The negro
was escorted through the city go tina
| all might see the most inhuman mon
ster known in current history. Smitl
was placed upon q scaffold six fee
square and ten feet high,. securel!
bound. within view of all the beholders
| Tortured by Red-Hot Irons.
| Here the victim was tortured for fift!
minutes by redhot iron brands thrus
against his quivering body Commenc
ing at the feet the brands were places
against him inch by inch until they wer
i thrust against the face. Then, beinI
apparently dead, kerosene was poure'
upon him, cottonsee1 hulls placed be
meath him and set on fire. In less tim
than 1t takes TO relate it the torture'
man was waited beyond the grave Il
another fire hotter and more terribl
than the one just experienced.
The cause of the crime was that Hen
ry Vance when a deputy policeman II
the course Of his duty was called to ar
rest Henry Smith for being drunk anC
disorderly. The negro was unruly ant
Vance was forced to use his club. Tn
negro swore vengeance and severa
| times assaulted Vance. In his greeC
for revenge he last Thursday grabbed
up the little girl and committed the as
sault, then tore the child limb from
limb. The father is prostrated will
grief and the mother lies at deaths
door, but she lived to see the slayer o
her innocent babe suffer the most hor'
rible death that could be conceived.
The negro for long time after start
ing on the journey 10 Paris did not real
ize his plight. At last when told h
must die by slow torture he begged 70
protection. What protection could h,
get with thousands OF people from Hop,
to Paris demanding his life? He'wa
willing to be shot and wanted Marsha
Shanklin, of Paris, to shoot him. HI
pleaded and writhed in bodily and men
tai pain in anticipation. Scarcely haC
the train reached Paris than this torture
commenced. His clothes were torn of
piecemeal and scattered in the crowd
people catching the shreds and putting
| them away as mementos. The child'i
father, her brother and two uncles theI
| gathered about the negro as he lay fast
| ened to the torture platform ano thrus
the hot irons into his quivering flesh.
Every groan from the fiend, evory
contortion of his body, was cheered bl
| the thickly packed crowd OF 10000 peo'
pie. After burning the feet and legs tn,
| hot irons were rolled up and dowI
Smiths stomach, back and arms. Ther
| the eyes were burned out and irons
were thrust down his throat. The meI
| of the Vance family having wreakeC
vengeance, the crowd piled all kinds o.
| combustible stuff around the scaffold
| poured oil on 1t and set II a9re. The
| negro rolled and wriggled and tossed
out OF the mass only to be pushed bacl
by the people nearest him. He tossed
out again and was roped and pulled
back. Hundreds OF people turned away
but the vast crowd still looked calmly
| on.
Every train that came in was loaded
| to its utmost capacity, and there were
demands at many points for specia
trains TO bring people to see the punish
ment OF a fend for an unparalleled
crime, and when the news OF the burn
ing went over the country like wildfr'
at every country town anvlls boomet
forth the announcement Gov. Hogs
telegraphed the officials at Lamar b
| protect the negro. Henry Smith, from
mob violence, and after hearing O
Smiths fate wired them TO take tn
names of the parties principally con
/ cerned in the affair for prosecution.
Thurston Is Chosen.
/ Noh - hfrlv