St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-27
STRUNG THEM UP IN A ROW.
CITIZENS REUSED To ACTION nv
A. OUTBREAK OF LAW
LESSNESS.
ALL DOORS OPENED BY FORCE.
P1oneersS Of the Mining Town of
hreka Reminded of Lively
Olden Times

aeFefS were taken from the county
jail by mob of $50 men at 1 o'clock
THIS morning and lynched. A band
OF cltlzens, fearing that the law
would not be carried out, and angered
over the atrocity of recent crimes.
determined to take matters into
their own hands. The lynching was
the CHASTITY climax to a reign of
laWiessneSs which has prevailed in
SIsk1you county for some months
past One of the victims was Law
renee johnson, who, on the evening
OF July %. stabbed his wife to death
in the town of Etna. Another was
William Null, who shot Henry Hay
ter IN the back with a rifle near
Callahan's on April 81. Louis Mo-
reno and Garland Seemler, who are
supposed. to have killed George Seers
and Casper Meierhans, at Bailey
Hill on Aug. 5, were also hanged. At
IL o'clock last night farmers from
all the surrounding country began
to drive into town, and by midnight
the mob was ready to march to the
county jail. Before moving a step.
however, every precaution was taken
to prevent the plans of the iynchers
from being frustrated by the officers
of the law. The sheriff and one of his
deputies were decoyed to another
part Of town by two members of the
mob, and the fire bell was muff1ed to
prevent an alarm being given in that
way. When the Jail was reached, a
number Of men, all of whom were
masked, awakened Under Sheriff
Radford and demanded the KEYS
from him. He positively refused to
open the door or give the keys I'D.
telling them that if they broke in the
doors he would blow their brains out.
Finding that Radford was deter
mined not to give them the keys, they
went across to the Jail and got on
top of stone wall which surrounds
the jail. Deputy Sheriff Henry
Bratt1acht, who had been sleeping in
the Jail since the commitment of so
many murderers, thinking some one
was escaping from Jail, fired two
shots out OF the window to alarm
City Marshal Parks and Deputy
Sheriff Radford. He then opened
the doors and was Immediately held
up by the mob, who took the keys
from him and entered the jail.
BURST OPEN THE CELLS.
Having no keys to the different
cells, they were compelled to burst
the locks with a sledge hammer.
which they proceeded to do at once.
Lawrence H. Johnson was the first
to- receive the attention of the mob.
They broke the lock from the door
ofsilis cell, and, placing rope around
his neck, led him out of the Jail and
across the street to where an iron
Of two locust trees. Johnson pleaded
for mercy, but the silent gathering
gave no heed to his appeals. and he
was quickly strung up, dying from
stranguiation in a few minutes The
mob returned to the Jail and broke
into the cell of William Null Null
desired to make statement, but
time was too valuable, and he was
soon hanging alongside Of Johnson.
Louis Moreno was then taken from
his cell, and soon swung with John
son and Null. The last and young
est of the four murderers to pay
the penalty of his crime was Garland
| Seemler, aged about nineteen. A rope
was placed around his neck, and he
| was led from the Jail in his bare
feet. -Seemler begged for mercy, and
his last words were: Tell my dear
old mother 1 am innocent of the
crime y
About this time Sheriff Hobbs, hav-
ing been notified, arrived on the
scene, and, starting for the Jail door,
was commanded to halt, the COM
nand being emphasized by the dis
play Of several revolvers. He was
told that the job had been done"
By this time the greater part of the
mob had dispersed, leaving only
about thirty or forty men on guard,
who left soon after the sheriff ar
rived. The bodies were taken down
by Coroner Schofield and Marshal
Parks, who removed them in a wagon
to an engine house, where they were
laid side by side. The coroner has
summoned a jury to hold an in
quest. Yreka is a little mining town,
and years ago was. frequently the
scene of mob violence. The sum-
mary manner in which justice was
melted out to the four murderers
this morning reminded the pioneers
of similar scenes during the gold ex-
element forty years ago, when it
was not an uncommon spectacle to
awaken in the morning and see the
body, of notorious criminal dan
Cling from tree.