Birmingham age-herald., 1895-06-08
THEY TOOK T AS A JOKE Abe Mitchell and Lee Harris Laugh on tie GallowS. THE REVOLVING CONFESSION Is Eagerly Listened to by the Morbid, Curious
 Throng. TIE NECK OF NEITHER WAS BROKEN But Death Came Swiftly-A Dramatic Epi- sode of the Gruesome Afair-History
 of the Crimes for Which They
 Paid the Penalty.
HE NECK OF NEITHER WAS BROKEN

Promptly as the deep toned clang of the court house clock struck the hour 1 of noon yesterday Lee Harris and Abe Mitchell, two self-confessed robbers and murderers, were marched from the rooms
 of the jail through the dense throng of | sightseers to the floor of the gallows. | At 12:03 they were pinioned, the black | cap was pulled over their faces and at l 12:06 Sheriff George Morrow pulled the lever which threw the two bodies like shot 515 feet towards the ground They
 were taken down fifteen minutes later, having died from strangulation.
 The scene at the court house and jail yard yesterday was a novel one. This
 usually quiet place was mass of strug- l gling, seething, pushing and morlid | humanity. Fully 5000 people were there.
 The court yard the alleys, the angles and every window in the court house and elsewhere overlooking the scene of | the hanging were filled with tanning and sweltering humanity.
 | At 10 o'clock the crowds began to | gather, and Sheriff Morrow and the | jailer and deputies did their utmost to | keep some order, but 1t was found to
 be impossible They gathered at the doors, windows and every place of in gress and egrcss until the sheriff, s-e- | ing that trouble would result, ordered the big double doors to the jail yard | opened. and there the crowd rushed like | bees to a swarming hive. In the meantime Harris and Mitchell | were singing songs. and with about a dozen ministers praying for them, they | worked themselves into pitch Of en- l thusiasm amounting to frenzy. The | sheriff, seeing that it would be impossi- | ble to allow the men to make any long | harangue from the scaffold, at l030 | brought the doomed men to the front steps of the jail, where he told them | they might have their say 10 thelr | hearts content.
 Abe Mitchell spoke first. He said that | he would warn everybody to keep away | from bad company. It was bad company which had brought him to the gallows, | and would bring many more there. lie lpseas -going,-to heaven, where the devil | would not be able to reach him. He had l started out early with the idea that the l world owed him a living, and did not in 1 tend to work; but tried to collect that | living by force. Continuing, he said: | My first experience in robbing was when I met an old man; he didn't have | much but I took what he had. I did | not aim to kill anybody if l could get out | of 1t, but I would kill every time had | to- My partner was anxious to kill
 
 l caused by a lady dressed in black, who
 was standing in the window of the sher- | ifs office, facing the entrance where the prisoners were haranguing the crowd. As Abe said his partner was anxious to kill" this lady leaned far out of the window, and, shaking her fist at
 the murderer exclaimed: Yes and if l had a gun I'd shoot you, too, you cow ardr
 Sheriff Morrow quickly repressed the | tt4x~ N.,ll 41,~.
 ceed. This lady was found to be the mother of Mrs Thornton. whose husband was killed by Mitchell and Harris.
 The interruption seemed to amuse Harris hugely. He laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Mitch ell continued T am sorry for what was done, but it was the Lords will We went down to Pleas Meriweathers store. I asked him for some candy, which he gave us. then asked him for some meat, and as he stopped down to cut it my partner whacked him across the head until he killed him" A voice
 "Who was your partner?" Here he is," replied Mitchell nudging Harris. This again seemed to delight Harris.
 Lee Harris then said he was there to warn them of bad company. He was a stranger here and came among strange people to kill and rob. He started out as kid" to rob. One Christmas eve night in Greenville. S. G. he was going home and noticed one negro watching a man. He asked the negro what he was doing, and he replied that he was laying for a man that had a roll of money, and if he would help him he would give him some Of the money. He agreed, and when the spells were divided he liked it so well that he decided to start out for himself. This he did. and was soon robbing evrey body that came along, until he was caught and served five years in the pcnitentiary.
 After serving his time he came to Dan vile, Va, where he began again. He was arrested, placed in jail. made his escape and came to Birmingham. where he met be Mitchell
 Mitchell was too sofs-hearted and did not want to kill. As for him he loved to kill. He loved 10 see the white mans blood flow. He liked 10 see negro blood, but preferred white mans blood. When ever he held pistol he wanted to shoot.
 Abe Mitchell again began, and said that Stonewall Thomas, who was then in jail on the same charge, was an innocent man and ought to be turned loose. Sheriff Morrow asked him whether he knew that Thomas was not there. to which Harris replied: You don't know anything about it.
 The men were taken back to a room and began to sing and get more "ligion."
 At 55 Deputy Thompson read the death warrant to the men, and promptly