The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-25
THE PERDuE LYNcHING.
The Darkest Crime That Ever Oc-
Cured in montgomery County.

Cured in montgomery County.
The following additional particulars Of
the lynching of Prof. L, w. Perdue,
which occurred at about 2:S0 O'Clock Sat
urday morning. as already stated in the
Morning News. Prof. Perdue had been in
the Mt. Vernon Jail about six weeks. He
was indicted a few days ago and his
trial would have taken place the second
week in December. The mob consisted of
between twenty-five and fifty Determined
men. Some of them called at Sheriff J.
ID. McGregOr's house at about o'clock
in the morning, and told him they had a
prisoner they wanted to put n The Jail.
Mr. McGregOr, unsuspecting their motive,
readily got up from his bed and started
with them to the Jail. His house is fully
a half mile from the Jail, and small
branch lies between his house and the
Jail. When he got to the branch on his
way several armed men rose up out of
the bushes and rushed towards him with
presented pistols, at the same time de-
manding the jail keys. Mr.. McGregor,
seeing he was pOwerless to resist them,
gave up the keys, and was
taken on with the mob TO the Jail The
doors were soon opened and the cell in
which Prof. Perdue was sleeping reached
As the mob approached his cell door he
was aroused from his sleep by the noise
and uttered two or three shrieks and
shouts of murder. The leader of the mob
told him to be quiet, that they were his
friends and had come to rescue him. II
did not believe this, however, and was
slow to leave his cell. During this time
some members of the mob guarded Sheriff
McGregor. When they were ready to de-
part with the prisoner Sheriff McGregor
was ordered to go home at once. He re-
fused to go and Immediately an escort was
appointed to carry him home. After he
was safely deposited in his home the men
guarded the house for some time giving
the mob with the prisoner time to get a
considerable distance, the start of anyone
who might try to pursue them.
As soon as the men left Mr.. McGregor 8
premises he came back into the town and
gave the alarm, and a posse was organ
lied and started to hunt the body of Per-
due. Early in the morning the body was
found about two miles and one-half from
Mount Vernon, lying by the roadside, on
the public road leading from Mount Yer
non to Higgston.
The body was horribly mutilated. the
lace being full of bullet holes, the throat
cut from ear TO ear and seven knife
wounds being over the region of the
heart In the afternoon Coroner Will
hanson held an inquest over the body,
which resulted in the following verdict:
We, the jury, find that l.. w. Purdue
was this morning taken from the Mount
vernon Jail, about O'Clock, and MUIR
uered by unknown parties" After the in
quest the body was prepared for burial
ana was shipped to his relatives in ClaX-
ION to-day. The crime with which Prof
Perdue was charged is fresh in the minds
OF the readers of the Morning News an
account OF IT having been published only
q snort time ago. He was charged with
having criminally assaulted the daugh-
ter of j. E. Grady on Dec. Is last. He was
not arrested until recently, and public
sentiment seemed to be in his favor. The
arrest created a great excitement in the
county on account of the prominence of
the parties connected with it.
Since the lynching the excitement is
high in all parts of the county, and all
condemn in the most emphatic terms the
act of the mob. The citizens of the coun-
ty are enraged that such a thing should
occur within the limits of the county, and
the opinion is freely expressed that if the
lynchers are caught they will be convict
crime that has ever occurred within the
borders of the county