The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-02-09


of angry men and women, numbering
thousands, wreaked most irI, hltu
vengeance of lynch law 10 ia, upon
Henry Smith, 4 burly Negro, vino with
the fiendishness of dcpraved brute,
outraged and cruelty murdered little
ur-year old Myrtle Vance on Thurs
day. Too powerful to resist, ,he took
the prisoner from the guards, TOR nging
him by rope about his neck, to the
scene of his crime, subjected him to
every conceivable torture and then
burned the pitiablc wretch at the stake.
All the morning trains had brought
people by the hundreds to this city,
white and black alike, 10 await the ar
rival of the guards who were bringing
the prisoner back from rexarkana,
where he had been captured. The
country for miles around had become
wildly excited over the atrocious crime
and the hunt tor the brute murderer.
When the news came last night that
he had been caught and identified by
members of the searching party, the
people seemed crazy with joy and eager
for his lite. On trains, on wagons, on
horse and afoot, people piled into the
city. The mayor ordered the liquor
stores closed, unruly mobs dispersed
and schools dismissed. The prepara
tions for the lynching bee were sys-
tematic and business like.
Henry Smith, big burly negro,
had, on Thursday, picked up little
four -year-old Myrtle Vance, near her
fathers policeman Henry vance,
house, and, 4uieting her with candy,
carried her through the central portion
of the city to Gibbons pasture. Several
questioned him, but to each he said
he was carrying her to doctors. At
the pasture, after assaulting the poor
child, he took one little leg in each
hand and literally tore her in twain.
Then covering the body with leaves
and brush he laid down and slept
calmly by his victim throughout the
night. He went home, got breakfast
and disappeared.
That day mass meeting was called
at the court house and searching par
ties were sent out to. find the child.
Her mangled body was found and the
whole town joined in the pursuit of
the fiend who had murdered her. He
was caught yesterday at Glow, on the
Arkansas & Louisiana railroad, twenty
miles north of Hose. He denied the
crime, but blood stains were on his
clothing and later he confessed. This
morning he was brought to Texarkana,
where 5000 people had gathered eager
to get at him. The Paris searching
party begged that he be not molcsl ed.
The news travelled fast. Every where
along the line as the train bore the
wretch to Paris morbid crowds gath
cred to gaze upon him. At the depot
at Paris were 10000 people. The
deputy sheriffs put up show of pistols
but were brushed aside and a rush
made for the car.
A rope was thrown about Smiths
neck and he was dragged from the
car. He was then taken to rude float
and borne through the streets that the
people might gaze on the monster. At
the open prairie, three hundred yards
from the Texas Pacific depot, the scaf-
fold awaited him. 1t was six feet
square and ten feet high, well within
view of all. There tor fifty minutes
the maddened mob tortured him with
a diabolical cunning that savages only
are supposed to show. Red hot irons
we're thrust from every side into his
body. His shrieks added vigor 10 his
prosecutors. First the hot irons
branded his feet and inch by inch they
crept up to his face. The man was
unconscious when at last kerosene was
poured on him and cotton seed hulls
placed beneath him. A torch set the
pyre on fire and all was quickly con-
sumed. Smith, some say, committed
the crime to revenge himself on Vance
who had arrested him once when drunk
and clubbed him. Vance is pros,ra,ed
with grief, and his wife is dangerously
i'll from the shock.