The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-07-08
LYNCHING OF A FIEND
A Kentucky Community Hangs
the Slayer Of Two Girls
the TRAGEDY IN eARpwElL.
An Avfal CS10o - Devils Lake, N0ssA
Dsheeo-A Hired Mso MurAsss
. Ysaiiy - efx.

and murder Of Mary and Ruby Ray. Was
hanged 1t $50 this evening and bis body
was burned after being horribly musiia:ed.
The negro made . speech proclaiming his
innocence, but IL ss said he Afterwards
made partial confession.
The steamer Three States With several
hundred from Cairo on board met the
special train from sikston as Birds point
The prisoner was put On the boat and
taken % Wickiine. Frank Gordon, the
fisherman who ferried the murderer across
the Mississippi river on Wednesday night.
identified Miller as the same man. The
latter still pleaded innocence and
John Ray. father Of the muir
dered girls. counseled patience. The
mob brought the prisoner 10
this city, arriving OF II 80 O'Clock There
were no less than 1000 men at the depot
and the train Was crowded. Previous to
this an agreement had been made by the
people TO allow the father OF the children
TO prescribe the punishment. Sheriff Hud-
son, the prisoner and the guards mounted
the scaffoid which had been erected and
John Ray. father OF the murdered girls,
made q talk. in which he said:
This is the man who killed my children.
but let Us keep quiet now and at the
proper time burn him" The negro was
called upon and responded promptly and
with wonderful nerve. considering the cir
cumstances under which ne was placed.
His voice was clear and be seemed OBJ
iivious to his surroundings. His exact
words were a. follows:
Ny name IL Charles J. Miller. and I am from
Springfield. Ill I sm here among you - .
stranger aud looked on By you the most
brutal man that ever stood on Gods green earth
! am standing here IN innocent man among ex-
cited men who do not propose 20 let the Law
take it, courss. / kavs committed no crime to
be deprived Of my liberty or my LIE. am not
guilty.
At this point he was interrupted BY
several questions. and many called him TO
go on, bat Sheriff Hudson begged thst he
be permitted to pat him in jail and get
some rest for himself, which he
needed badly. It was finally agreed 10
hang him ut o'clock, and the
negro was placed in jail to await the time
when he would be called forth. At $40
O'Clock the negro was brought from the
Jail to the principal street, with q chain
around his neck and many men pulling at
il. The crowd Was Wild and no one could
guess at the fate of the negro. He Was almost
sufiocated when the north end of the de-
pot was reached and the father Of the
girls reiented to some extent and suggest
ed that he be hanged rather than burned.
At 3:27 the body was swung TO telegraph
pole directly at the north end Of
the depot and ~ he was drawn up his
clothes were torn from his body by
the lnaddened crowd. He was heard
10 say just ~ they drew him up
I'm an innocent man." But there was q
fully authenticated report that he made q
partial confession IS the mob took him
| from the Jail. This confession duplicates
. partner. but nothing positive can be
| learned. The negro was drawn up and
| when his feet were Two or three fset from
| the ground some one shot HIM from in
| front, tho bali passing entirely through
| the body. In a few minutes life
| was extinct, it being ascertained that he
| was dead at 3:s5 O'Clock. The body was
| left hanging until 4:2o. during which time
some OF his toes and fingers we're cut of.
| The body Was finally taken down and his
ears cut of. Nearly all the remaining
toes and fingers were severed and the body
| otherwise mutilated. The body was
then placed between two kegs and
kindling piled upon it and then enough
wood TO complete the job Of burning the
corpse. The crowd remained orderly to
| the last but determined. The men who
| did the hanging are from Kentucky.
| Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri. bus the
| work was done in such a manner and the
throng was 50 great that no man can name
an individual who partici pated.
srRlSeFIELp. ILL.,, July CHARLES F.
Miller. the negro who was iynched today
at Bard we'll, KY. came here last January
from Cairo and went TO work in q barber
shop. lie went back 10 Cairo three week,
ago. but his wife is still here. She is al.
most cra@ed by her husbands fate. Mile.
is a mulatto and has borne q good repuia
ton among negroes
The crime fer which the negro suffered ths
peaslsy was the ravishing snc murder Of MARY
and Ruby Ray, aged Is snd u years. who were
picking berries on Wednesday noraing nca,
their home A bloody coat found on the
| scene proved q good clue Peniien;iary blood
hounds we're given q scent OF the Goa; and
followed the trail TO the Mississippi river whe,,
tsrrvmsn said he had fer5ied over q negro
| he 4cgs were taken across tie river, aud TO.
lowed the trail TO Birds pous. There IL va,
learned that Dsa had been arrested In Skes
ION. No. and the prisoner tailed with the fer
! syman's description. His clothes showed ev!
| :enee Of crime He had been living in spring
Geld, IL. until reeently.
.