Griggs courier., 1893-07-14
WAS he INNocENr4

WAS he lNNoCENT9
Doubt Raised ~ to the Guilt Of Mrlsr.
Whe Was Hanged. Shot and Burned BY
the Bardwau (Ky.) Mob.
CAIRO. Ill, July 10. Much excite.
ment still exists regarding the lynching
Of Miller ut Bardwell, KY, Friday aft
ernoon, and grave doubts exists as to
his guilt. His first examination was
held at Wickliffe, KY, Friday morning.
About half-dozen of the leading citi-
Gems of the place and officers Of the law
conducted the examination in secret
session. 1t had been generally under
stood up to this time that there was
blood on the person and on the cloth
ing OF the negro, and that razor and a
large pocketknife which he carried were
reeking with blood. In fact, kilograms
had been sent to Sikeston, where he
was arrested, to this effect. The ex.
animation proved this to be entirely
erroneous.
Mr.. Ray, the father OF the murdered
girls, was the chief examiner and did
everything in his power to get proofs
Is to the prisoners guilt, but was as
fair as any man could be under the cir
cumstances. The only positive evidence
that could be called good proof against
him was the fact of his hand being
covered with scratches, which. must
have been made by thorns, leading all
to infer that he had received them while
in the blackberry patch where he is
supposed to have murdered the girls.
He could not give any account of how
he got these scratches.
The mob of more than 5000 who had
gathered at Bardwell were thirsting
for revenge for the brutal murder of
the innocent girls, and as the accounts
of the evidence against the prisoner
were exaggerated and distorted as
they went from mouth to mouth
they had made up their minds
that the prisoner was the guilty man
beyond all reasonable doubt. It had
been determined to burn Miller at the
stake and preparations had been made
for doing SO. AS the crowd was hurry
ing Miller to the stake Mr. Ray, father
of the murdered girls, mounted the pile
of combustibles and cried: 'For Gods
sake. gentlemen, do not burn him; we
are not positive that he is guilty."
Then the mob having the negro, as
has been told, hanged him, and rifle
ball was fred through his body.
Shortly after the rifle ball had entered
the body all movements or contrac-
tions of the muscles ceased. A
physician felt the pulse and pro-
nounced the victim dead. Then
relic hunters began their work. Knives
were opened and pieces of. the
victims undershirt, which kad been
tied around his loins, were cut off until
there was nothing left on his person.
Then began a brutal treatment of the
body. One man sliced off a finger, an
other an ear, still another toe. This
was kept up until the body was badly
mutilatec. Then some one cut q deep
slit on his abdomen.
Some one suggested that they burn
the body to save funeral expenses.
This was soon decided upon and the
body was let down and about twenty
men caught hold of the chain and
dragged the wreck of man on the
ground through the streets to point
about quarter of mile away. Here
a great heap of wood was piled up, the
body placed on top, more wood was
piled on and the huge mass fred. The
body burned slowly and it was many
hours before it was consumed.
It is proper to say now that after the
man was dead there was no feeling of
jubilation manifest. Upon the con-
trary, sort of mental wet blanket
seemed to hover over the crowd and two
out of every three men cautiously ex-
pressed doubts as ito the propriety of
their action and said they feared his
connection with the murder was not
fully established.
Information from trustworthy
source at Wickliffe is that kilograms
have been received there confirming
Miller's statements as to where he was
July and 5. Miller's story was that
he was at Bismarck, Mo-, the morning
of July 5. and no one has brought for
ward any evidence to the contrary.
Careful inquiry has failed to disclose a
single person who will say positively
that he saw Miller in Bardwell, or even
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