The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-06-07

Judge Lynch Punished Him.
DECATUR, ILL.,, June 3.-Twenty-five men
walked into this city of $4,000 people this
morning and strung ND a man on the
principal street without meeting any
opposition. The victim was Samuel Bush.
q negro accused of outraging two white
women. 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 on the Jail
and an extra force of men were put on
duty outside. About 800 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 Woodst. 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 q
sledge crashed in the wooden door
and the officers were surrounded
by twenty-five armed men. The KEYS
were demanded, but both officers de-
clared they did not have them. The men
then went TO work with sedge hammers
and chisels on the outside door. 1t was
of solid cast iron an inch thick. Twenty
minutes elapsed before it was forced.
Meanwhile the crowd OF Decatur people
stood quietly outside. No one seemed to
care much. There was no talk OF resist
ance and the officers we're not upbraided
Tor making no more objection.
There WAS much indignation among the
better class of citizens when they got up
this morning and found that negro Bush
had been hung on one OF the principal
streets. Much more indignation was
aroused when it was discovered that the
undertaken had placed the body on exhi-
bition in his show window. He was soon
compelled to remove it. This afternoon it
was taken out and buried at he poor farm.
This afternoon States Attorney Miller re-
ceived a message from Governor Altgeld
and went TO Springfield for a conference,
which resulted IN the issuance Of proc
lamatlOn by the governor, as mentioned
in the Springfield dispatch. a young
colored attorney has issued a call for an
indignation meeting of colored citizens
Monday night.
Marshal Mason 1Iistreated.
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. Some one gave him hard kick in
the stomach. When the first door was
| opened another one OF the steel bars held
them another twenty minutes. There
was an occasional veil, and altogether it
was a quiet attack on the Jail. The next
bars across the corridor were forced, and
with them a lock that opened oil the
cells. A frightened negro inside pointed
! out Bush's cell. Three men rushed in
and found the room apparently empty.
| They jerked over the mattress and lifted il
/ up and out tumbled the negro. He
| had creWled inside. Ali day
yesterday Bush shook with fear.
] Now he seemed cooler than
| at any time before. Gentlemen, you are
killing an innocent man." he said. He
was dragged into the Jail office. SO many
/ men stood around that it took FIVE min
utes to pull him through the crowd to the
street. All this time Bush said nothing.
but the crowd yelled excitedly. News of
the attack on the Jail seemed TO have
| spread over the town and 800 people
were there.
In front of the Jail is telegraph pole.
| A drive toward that was made. but the
/ lynchers finally went to one about six
| hundred yards away, one OF the most
| prominent corners in the city and directly
/ 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 negros neck.
Given Time 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 bricks and
/ began to pray in sing-song way. He
| would call on Jesus to come and take his
soul and forgive the men who were muir
dering him and then declare that he was
innocent. He prayed ten minutes, while
a thousand people crowded around, many
| testing and not one seeming impressed
| with the awfulness OF the scene. Finally
| the spectators began to get impatient. A
man had climbed half way up the pole
aud stood in the glare of the light all the
| time
''Cut that short" he said. "He gave
| those women no time" Others took up
the cry: "Hang him he's prayed enough"
| The rope passed TO the man on
the pole, he put it over guy wire and the
crowd pulled. The negro's body. now naked
as the day it was born, swung up into
sight four feet from the ground and fell
back. The negro uttered no sound. A
few in the crowd groaned while others
yelled. Then hack WAS driven into the
crowd against the protests Of the cabman.