River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1893-07-13
FATE OF A FiEND.

FATE OF A FIEND.
Mob's Revenge the Slayer of the
Ray Girls in kentucky-He Is Hanged
and Shot and Wis Body Is MutiIated and
Burned.
BARuwELL, KY, July s.-Scay J.
Miller, the negro charged with the out
rage and murder of Mary and Ruby
Ray, was hanged at 1927 o'clock Fri
day afternoon and the body burned
after being horribly mutilated. The
negro made speech proclaiming his
innocence, but it is said that he after
ward made a partial confession.
The steamer Three States, with sew
eral hundred men from Cairo on board,
me. the special train from Sikeston at
Bard's Point The prisoner was put on
the boat and taken to Wickliffs at A
I o'clock Friday morning Frank Cor
don, the fisherman who ferried
the murderer across the Mississippi
river Wednesday night, identified
Miller as the same man. Still Miller
pleaded his innocence, and John
Ray. the father of the murdered girls,
counseled patience. The mob boarded
. train at Wickliffe and brought the
prisoner to this city, arriving at 1880
o'clock. There was not less than 5000
men at the depot and the train of eight
cen coaches was crowded Previous to
this time an agreement was made by the
people to allow the father of the chill
dren To prescribe the punishment, hut
when the train arrived IL seemed that
the men forgot their promise for the
time. They pushed to the train, one over
another. and at one time 1t was thought
by great many that the negro was
being torn limb from limb.
At last quiet was restored and all
went to a very high seaffoli constructed
of bridge timbers Sheriff Hudson, the
prisoner and a number of the guards
mounted the stand. John Ray, the
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 to make
talk and responded promptly and with
wonderful nerve, considering the cir
cumstances under which he was placed.
His voice was clear aud he seemed al
most oblivious to the surroundings.
His exact words were as follows:
MY name is seay j Miller aud am from
Springfield, Ill My wife lives NJ 716 North
Second street / here among you
stranger and looked on by you as the most
brutal man that ever stood on Gods green
earth. l am standing here an innocent man
among excited men who do not propose 10 let
the law take it's course / have committed no
crime to be deprived OF my liberty or life. 1
am not guilty"
At this time he was disturbed by sew
eral questions and many called on him
TO go on, but Sheriff Hudson begged to
be permitted to put him in Jail and get
some rest for himself, which he needed
so badly. At this time Mr.. Ray, the
father of the children. appeared on the
stand and talked only few moments,
carrying on a conversation with sew
eral persons on the ground. Mr.. Ray
repeated the charge against the negro
and said he was willing to set time
and place for the execution, which was
agreed between him and several by
ISLANDERS should be o'clock. 1t was
then a few minutes past 12, and the
negro was placed in Jail TO await the
time when he would be called forth.
At 500 o'clock the negro was brought
from the Jail to the principal street. A
chain was around his neck and many
were pulling at it. The crowd was
wild and no one could guess at the fate
of the negro. He was almost suffocated
when the north end of the depot was
reached, and here the father of the
| girls relented to some extent and sug-
gested that he be hanged rather than
burned.
AT 1927 the body was swung to tele-
graph pole directly at the north end of
the depot and he was drawn up. His
clothes were torn from his body by the
maddened mob. He was heard to say
just as they drew him up: II
am an innocent man." but there
is a fully authenticated report that
he made a partial confession as the
mob took him from the Jail. The negro
was drawn up with his lace to the pole
and when his feet We're 2 or feet from
the ground some one shot him from the
/ front. the ball passing entirely through
his body. In few minutes life was
extinct, il being ascertained he was
dead at 3:45 o'clock.
The body was left hanging until
4:25, during which time some of the
/ toes and fingers were cut off. The
/ body was finally taken down and car
ried about 300 yards to the rear of the
/ Downs & Hart mill. At that place the
ears were cut off, nearly all the re-
naming 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 the burning.
SPRINGFIELD, H., July s.-The wife
of the negro, Miller, burned at Bard
well, KY, for the murder of the two
/ Raw girls, has been located in this city
at 716 North Second street, where she
| lives. The Millers came here from
! Cairo about the time of the open
| ing of the legislature. and the
man made unsuccessful attempts
to get employment at the state
house. He remained here until about
the first of June, when he returned ito
Cairo, leaving his wife here The Mil
lers seemed to be respectable and ASSOC
ciated with the better class of colored
people, being members of the African
/ Methodist church. The woman has
heard the report of the lynching of her
husband and is frantic with grief. She
protests that he was innocent. This
impression seems to prevail here.