The Washington times., 1894-08-25
BEATEN, HANGED AND SHOT.
Isaac Jenkins Experienced All This and
Yet Lives to Tell the Story
of His Sufferings.

Yet Lives to Tell the Story
of His Sufferings.
Hanged by the neck, shot twice with re-
volvers, beaten over the head with black
jack, and left for dead, and yet alive. Such
has been the experience of a colored man
who reached here from Richmond, Va, day
or two ago.
Isaac Jenkins, now about thirty-fve years
of age, has had an experience that is, it is be-
lieyed, without q parallel in this or almost
any other country. Immediately before the
occurrences which nearly sent jenkins into
the land of the silent majority, Jenkins was in
the employ of j. C. Cartwright, of Nanse-
mond county, Va, and left in June, 1898, be-
cause Cartwright wanted the house in which
Jenkins was living, and which Cartwright
owned. About three weeks after jenkins
left Cartwright's service the latter'S house was
destroyed by fire.
Cartwright told some of his neighbors that
he believed that Jenkins had done the deed.
Jenkins was arrested on warrant charging
him with selling liquor without a license, al
though he says he never sold a drop OF liquor
in his life. He was placed ill the Jail mt Suf-
folk, when the charge in relation TO the sale
OF whisky was withdrawn and one of arson
substituted, and the constable was directed to
take him for examination before magistrate
who lived thirteen miles from Suffolk.
On the way to the magistrates house the
constable and his prisoner were met by about
thirty masked men who demanded that Jen-
kins should be handed over to them.
Not only was the constable willing to ac-
commodate the masKers, but he was so anx-
ious to deliver Jenkins to them that he ac-
tually kicked him out of the buggy. The
maskers then dragged jenkins into the
woods, dubbed. kicked. hanged him by the
neck, and shot him. Then after examining
his body and coming to the satisfactory con-
clusion that the man was dead the maskers
left.
jenkins said yesterday that soon after his
would-be murderers left, the part of the rope
that was tied around the body Of the tree be-
gan to slip and gradually loosened, until his
feet touched the ground. When he was first
suspended by the neck he heard John Cart
wright son OF the man whose house was
burned, say that he was going to shoot him,
and suiting his action TO the word, he fired,
the ball passing through Jenkins neck. Sub
sequently another member OF the lYncning
party fred second shot at jenkins. and this
also passed through portion of his neck, and
grazed his head.
AS soon as possible after jenkins feet
touched the ground he reached up-bis hands
not being fastened-and removed the rope
from around his neck. BY this time he was
so weak that he could not stand and he fell
into pool of his own blood. Jenkins said
that while hanging and expecting to die his
sensations were not painful. and but for the
pistol wounds in his neck and head and the
sufferings he experienced from the blows
which had been rained upon his head he
would have almost imagined that he was
gradually falling asleep.
After regaining full control OF his senses he
crept three miles from the place where the
lynching occurred before daybreak. Then he
hid himself in the woods until night again
returned. That night he travelled thirteen
miles in order TO reach place where he could
surrender to police authority and be assured
of protection. He was then put in jail
The bullet holes in his neck and head were
unattended TO and he was kept in prison in a
half-dying condition for seven months, when
he was tried for his life on the charge of set
ting fire to Cartwright's dwelling. The jury
failed to agree and jenkins was returned to
prison. There was also move TO try him on
the charge OF poisoning seven horses which
Cartwright had bought at sale in Baltimore
and which had died in a mysterious manner,
but an autopsy proved that the deaths were
the result of pneumonia second trial re-
suited in Jenkins acquittal on the charge OF
arson. on May "a, 1894. He Is now unable on
account of the treatment he received from the
lynchers to do any sort of work.