The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1893-02-07
MI. sTERIING 6. KENTUCKY, TUESDAY FEBRUARY 1888

portation to all who would join in the
search. Posses went out in every d.
rection, and not stone was lett I'M
turned. Smith was tracked to De-
troit on foot, where he jumped on a
freight train and left for his old home,
in Hampstead county, Arkansas. To
this county he was tracked, and yes
terday captured at Glow, flag sta
ton on the Arkansas & Louisiana
Railway, about twenty miles north OF
Hope.
Upon being questioned the fleno
denied everything, but upon being
stripped for examination, his under
garments were seen to be despatched
with blood, and part of his shirt was
torn of, He was kept under heavy
guard at Hope Thursday night and
later confessed the crime.
Arriving here at IL O'Clock, the
train was met by surging mass of
humanity ten thousand strong. The
negro was placed on carnival float,
in mockery of king upon his throne,
and followed by the immense crowd
was escorted through the city so that
all might see the most inhuman mon
ster known in current history.
The line of march was up Main
street to the public square, around the
square, down GAINESVILLE street to
Church street, thence TO tho open
prairie, about three hundred yards
from the Texas and Pacific depot.
Here Smith was placed upon a scat
fold six feet square and ten feet high,
securely bound, within view of all be-
holders. Here the victim was tor
tured for fifty minutes with red-hot
iron brands thrust against his CULVER
ing body. Commencing at the feet,
the brands were placed against him
inch by inch until they w,re thrust
against the face. Then, being appar-
emily 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, tho tortured
man was waited beyond the grave to
another fire hotter and more terrible
than the one just experienced. Curl
osity seekers carried away all that
was left Of the memorable event, even
to pieces of the charcoal.
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, hot irons, plenty
of fresh ones being at hand, were
rolled up and down Smiths stomach,
back and arms. The eysc were burn
ed out and irons were thrust down his
throat. The men of the Vance family
having wreaked vengeance, the crowd
piled all kind of combustible stuff
around the scaffold, poured oil on it
and set it afire. The negro rolled and
wriggled, and tossed out of the mass
only TO be pushed back by the people
nearest him. He tossed out again and
was roped and pulled back. Hundred
of people turned away but the vast
crowd still looked calmly ON. People
were there from every part of this
section. They came from Dallas, TT.
Worth, Sherman, Denison, Bonhan,
Texarkana, Fort Smith, Ark, and a
party of fifteen from Hampstead
County, Ark, whore he was captured.
Every train that came in was loaded
to its utmost capacity, and there were
demands at many points for special
trains to bring people here to see the
punishme nt of a fiend for
an unparalleled crime, and when the
news of the burning went over the
country, ~ wild fire, at many towns
anvils doomed forth the announce
ment.
INCENTIVE TO SMITHS CRIME.
The cause of the crime was that
Henry Vance, when deputy Police
man, in the course of his duty was
called upon to arrest Smith for being
drunk and disorderly, the negro was
unrully, and Vance was forced to use
his club. The negro swore vengeance
and several times assaulted Vance. In
his greed for revenge he last Thurs
day grabbed up the little girl and
committed 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