The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1893-02-04
UNPARALLELED.
Punishment Melted Out for al
Unparalleled Crime.
Tortured to Death With Hot Irons
Then His, Body Burned.
The scene Witnessed by Tea Thousand
Peopie--To Avoid bloody Riot the
Omcers stood Aside and Allowed
the Mob 20 Get In Its Work.

people--To Avoid n ISl0ody Riot the
omcers stood Aside and Allowed
the Mob 20 Get In Its Work.
PARIS, Tex, Feb 8 Henry Smith
the Negro rayisher and murderer o
four-year-old Myrtle Vance, has ex
plated in part his horrible crime By
death al the stake. Ever since the per
petration Of his awful crime this city
and the entire surrounding country has
been in a wild frenzy OF excitement
When the news came Tuesday night
that he had been captured at Hope
Ark, and identified, the city was wilc
with Joy over the apprehension o.
the fiend. Hundreds Of people poured
into the city from the adjoining conn,
try, and the word passed from lip u
lip that the punishment should fit the
crime-that death by fire was the pen;
atty Smith should pay for the most
atrocious murder and terrible outrage
IN Texas history. Curious and sym.
pathizing nike came, on train and
10 wagons, on horse and on foot. TO
see IL the frail mind of man could
think OF way To sufficiently punish
the perpetrator OF so terrible crime.
Whisky shops were closed, unrnly mobs
were dispersed, schools were dismissed
BY proclamation from the mayor. ana
everything was done in business-like
manner Officers saw the futility OF an
effort to quell the almost riot. So law
was laid aside, and the citizens took
into their own hands the inhuman beast
and burned him at the stake
Never before nor since the days of
the Spanish inquisition, when cruelty
was law, has there been such terrible
punishment melted out to any man; but
so horrible was the crime in It's magnf-
tude. so inhuman, that the punishment,
Sc severe, that was inflicted upon him,
was infinitely small in comparison.
Wednesday morning Smith was
brought through Texarkana, where five
thousand people awaited the train, anx-
ious TO see the man who should receive
the fate Of Ed Coy. At that place
speeches were made BY prominent Paris
citizens, who asked that the prisoner be
not molested by Texarkana people, but
that the guard be allowed to deliver
him up to the outraged and indignant
citizens Of Paris. Along the road the
train gathered strength from the
various towns, the people crowding
upon the platforms and tops OF coaches,
anxious to see the lynching, and the
Negro who was soon to be delivered to
the Infatuated mob,
Arriving here at IL o'clock. the train
was met BY surging mass Of humanity
ten thousand strong. Tho Negro was
placed in carnival float, in mockery OF
q king upon his throne, and followed
by the immense crowd, was escorted
through the city so that all might see
the most inhuman monster known in
current history.
The line of march was up Main street
to the public square, around the square,
down Clarksville street to Church
street then to the open prairie, about
three hundred yards from the Texas
and Pacific depot Here Smith was
placed upon scaffold six feet square
and ten feet high, securely bound,
within view Of all beholders. Here the
victim was tortured for Fifty minutes
with red-hot iron brands thrust
against his quivering body. Com
mencing at the feet the brands were
placedNagainst him inch by inch until
they were thrust against the face
Then, being apparently dead, kerosene
was poured upon him, cotton-seed hulls
placed beneath him and set on fire. In
less time than it takes to relate it the
farf1rad man ytac t-a f+axl ho,.S.,.1 a.. !.
grave to another fire hotter and more
terrible than the one just experienced
Curiosity seekers carried away all that
was left of the memorable event, even
TO pieces of the charcoal.
The cause of the crime was that
Henry Vance, when a deputy police
man, in the course of his duty was
called upon to arrest Smith for being
drunk and disorderly, the Negro was
unruly, and Vance was forced to use his
club The Negro swore vengeance, and
several times assaulted Vance. In his
greed for revenge he last Thursday
grabbed up the little girl and commit
ted the crime The father is FRUSTRATED
with grief and the mother now lies at
deaths door, but she has lived to see
the slayer Of her innocent child suffer
the most horrible death that could be
conceived.
After satisfying his fendish passion
the black monster tore little Myrtle
Vance limb from limb.
While Smith lay fastened TO the tor
ture platform the child's father, her
brother and her two uncles thrust hot
irons into his quivering flesh.
Every groan from the fiend, every
contortion- Of his body was cheered by
the thickly packed crowd Of ten thou.
sand people. The mass Of beings was
six hundred yards in diameter, the
scaffold being the center. After burn
ing the feet and legs, the hot irons,
plenty Of fresh ones being at hand,
We're rolled mp and down Smiths
stomach, back and arms. Then The
eyes were burned out, and irons
We're thrust down his throat. The
men Of the Vance family having
wreaked vengeance, the crowd piled
all kinds of combustible stuff about
the scafold, poured oil on it and set il
afire The Negro rolled and wriggled
and tossed out Of the mass, only to Dc
pushed back by the people nearest him
he tossed ont again, and was ropce
and pulled back Hundreds of people
turned away but the yast.efowd Stir
looked calmly on
Every train that came in was loaded
TO IN utmost capacity, and there wer.
demands at many points for specia
trains 70 bring people here to see til,
unparalleled punishment of a fiend for al
unparalleled crime, and when the new