The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-06-04

DECATUR, His, June 3-Twenty-fve
men walked into this city of %, 600 people
this morning and strung up Il man Oh the
principal street, without meeting any op
position. The victim was Samuel Bush, q
negro accused OF outraging two white
women.
The details of the lynching were sensa-
tional from start TO finish Bush was in
jail awaiting trial. 4 guard of twelve
men had been put in the jail and an extra
! force of men was put on duty outside. At
jnst = o'clock twenty-five men came on a
rush up Wood street. They were quiet.
! without masks, and moved in a solid
! body They forced their way through the
crowd and knocked on the door of the
Jail. Deputy Sheriff MidkIff and Special
| Officer Foster sat just inside and refused
them admission. One blow from n sledge
crushed in the wooden door. The keys Of
! the jail were demanded, but both officers
declared that they did not have them,
! The men went 10 the work with sledge
| hammers and chisels on the outside door
| Twenty minutes elapsed before it was
| forced. Marshal Mason forced his way
! through the spectators and into the Jail
! and started to address the men at work
!
! the jail door, and some one gave him ii
| hard kick in the stomach. When the first
door was opened, it took twenty minutes
| to force the bars across the corridor which
opened to all the cells.
a frightened negro inside pointed out
Bush's cell. Three men rushed in and
found it apparently empty. They ierke
over the mattress. and the negro tumbled
ont. He mad crawled inside He seemed
cool
Gentlemen, you are killing an innocent
man" he said.
He was dragged out into the street
News of the attack on the jail seemed TO
have spread over the town, and l, 500 peo-
pie were there. About 100 yards away is
one of the most promiuenJ corners of the
city, and directly in front Of the court
house. There the lynchers went. A rope
made of halter straps had been put around
the negro's neck.
When the crowd stopped at the foot of
the telegraph pole he was granted time to
pray. He kneit down on the bricks and
began to pray III singsOng way. He
would call Oh Jesus to lake him and to
forgive the men who were numbering him,
and then declare that he was innocent
Finally the spectators began to get impa-
tient. A man had climbed half way up
the pole; the rope was passed to the man
on the pole, and he put it over the guide
body, now as naked as the day it was born,
swung up into sight, four feet from the
ground and fell back. The negro uttered
no sOund. A few in the crowd groaned,
while others yelled.
A hack was driven into the crowd,
against the protest of the cabmeu, and the
negro was forced to stand upon it, The
rope was then tied to the cross-arm of the
pole, the hack was driven away, and the
body Tell. Two doctors pronounced him
dead IN TWO minutes. The body was cut
down by Coroner Pendure. The rope was
cut up and divided among the crowd
Among the lynchers were William Vest,
husband OF the second woman outraged,
aud Rolla Dill, brother of the first woman
assaulted. This was the first lynching
that ever occurred in Macon county. 1t is
thought that there viii not be any prose.
cution.
There was much Indignation among the
better class over the affair, which was
heightened when 1t was discovered that
the undertaken had placed the body of the
negro on exhibition in his show window
lie was compelled to remove it, and this
afternoon il was buried at the poor farm.
A call for an indignation meeting or
colored people, TO be held on Monday, has
been issued
SPRINGFIELD Ills, June 1.-Governor
Altgeld this morning summoned the state
dIlOIutS "a -hdCON county mere DE IelG-
graph, and, after consultation il regard
TO the Dscatur lyuching, issued n procla-
nation, setting forth the fact of lynching
and denouncing it in the roundest terms !
The proclamation concludes:
i call upon all officers OF the law, and
OF Macon county, as we'll AS all |
good citizens who respect the law and
cherish the honor of this state 10 do ali in I
their power to bring the leaders IN this (
great crime TO justice. | hereby offer a
reward of S200 each for the apprehension /
and conviction of every man who helped /,
to break the doors of the J4iI overpOwer |
the officers aud drag out the prisoner, or I
who assisted in killing him.
The states attorney of Macon county is I
Instructed 10 prosecute the matter in a !
vigorous manner. The proclamation de- /
nounCes the deed as Cowardly, and says: |
at was not only a murder under the law, I
but Is a disgrace to our civilization and "a |
blot upon the fair name OF our state.