The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1895-08-31
a MIDNIGHT LYECHIse.
Deathly Climax to Reign of Serious
Crime,

Cr1nes
YREKA, CAL, Aug. 26.-As a ghastly
climax of reign of lawlessness in Sis
kiyou county for many months past,
the bodies of four accused murderers
lie this morning'on the floor of fire.
engine house In the old mining town
of Yreka. It was evident that Judge
Lynch and his jurors had been at work
during the night, and their verdict
was ''death by hanging" to four miser-
able wretches in the county Jail.
The victims are: Lawrence John
son, who, on July %, stabbed his wife
20 death in the town of Etna; William
Null, who shot Henry Hayter, in the
back, near Galatians, April q; Louis
Moreno and Garland Semler, who was
supposed to have killed George Sears
and Casper Meiererhans at Raily Hill,
August ), At about o'clock strag-
gler now and then caught a glimpse of
dark objects hanging around the sub
urbs of the town, but nothing was
thought OF it. Dark objects thickened
until along toward midnight they as
sumed the shape of silent and stern
men, either on horseback or afoot At
midnight prearranged plan or signal
drew q small army of some 250 men in
the vicinity of the court house square,
while sentinels were placed through
out the town to ward off the danger of
discovery by officers, The fire bells
were tied up and the night watchmen
were sent to other parts of the town on
sham errands, and stagglers were de-
tained.
At o'clock, the midnight avengers
of Justice prepared to carry out their
plans. An old rail was taken from the
depot and stretched between two trees
in the courthouse park, and then they
began a descent upon the Jail. A de-
mand was made upon Deputy Sheriff
Radford for the keys, but he did not
yield. Henry Bratlaucht, who was
sleeping in the Jail. heard commotion
and opened the door to see what the
trouble was, and he was at once seized
by the mob. The doors were then
forced open and johnson, Null, Semler
and Moreno were marched out OF the
courtyard. The condemned men were
stolid and took their fate without
murmer, with the exception OF young
Setnler, who begged piteously' for
mercy. His age is 10. 1t is said that
the scene was heartrendering one,
as young Semler broke forth in an
dSOulZcQ dppOdls anu CiiOo Ooo' Oit
my dear old mother l am innocent OF
the crime"
Sheriff Hobbs had given strict orders
that in case any attempt at lynching
was made to ring the fire bells and
rouse the citizens, but the mob an
ticipated this and laid their plans we'll.
Every person about the streets in the
vicinity of the Jail was stopped. s. F.
Miles and Sam Roop were going to
the house of the latter's mother, and
were held at the scene of the hanging.
Nearly every section of the county was
represented in the mob. In fact, ever
since Null's cold-blooded murder of
Henry Hayter, lynching was freely
talked of In the western end of the
county, and when; johnson killed his
wife the ayenging sentiment kept on
fermenting. After the Bailey Hill
murder the feeling reached a danger
GUS stage. During the lynching some
one awoke Sheriff Hobbs, who hurried
down town, and as he was going
through the courthouse q Winchester
was stuck in his face and he was com
PEELED to stand where he was. The
whole affair was carefully arranged
and we'll executed. and not over ~
minutes elapsed from the time the
keys were surrendered until the mob
rode swiftly out of town.