Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1897-06-04
Lynchine Of a Ravisher.

Lynching Of a Ravisher.
URBASA, Ohio, June 4.-"Click"
Mitchell, the negro brute, has paid the
penalty Of mis- foul crime with his life.
An outraged people have taken the
law into their own hands and meted
out to Mitchell the punishment he 20
richly deserved, and have obeyed the
command and wish Of his PROSTATE and,
az is announced, dying victim. Such
night of horrors and such morning
tragedy never before shocked the peo-
pie OF this city. Ever since the arrest
Of Charles Mitchell and the sensational
scene when his victim sWooned in her
bed as che identified him es the 'black
brute who had assaulted her a week
ago. and left her in q pitiably critical
condition, the feeling against the
prlzouer Kept growing more and more
Intense. The local militia, 6fty-fve
men, were ordered to the Jail to pro-
icct the prisoner. Then came the bur.
ried efforts of the officers of the law to
get Mitchell into the penitentiary. The
sheriff was foiled in his plan TO gel
Mitchell out OF jail and on the Colum
bus train. Night infamed the excite
ment among citizens. The streets were
thronged all night Yells were heard
all around the jail. Finally at ,: 80 a.
N. came the attack on the jail when
the militia fired on the attacking
party, and, as is usual in such cases,
struck more innocent spectators than
active lawbreakers.
But such a sudden catastrophe well
nigh produced On explosion of wrath.
The Sheriff instantly wired the Gov
ernor for more troops, sending the mes
sage to him at Wooster, Ohio, and as
quickly an order was sent to the
Springfield Guard to report at once to
Sheriff McLain. The order was obeyed;
promptly and at 7:l0 the Springfield
company was in Urbana. The revul-
sion OF feeling against the troops was
so great that on all sides the new ad-
ditlon to the force was greeted with
jeers and hootiDgs and the soldiers
soon began to be pelted with mud.
Fearing fresh outbreak and more
bloodshed, az the troops began to show
signs of resistance to the insulting mob,
Mayor Ganson ordered the troops to
return to the depot. Then it was that
the mob made fresh assault on the
Jail. The feeling to-day is intense
against the sheriff for allowing the
National Guards to fire on the people
and there is very general approval Of
the work of the mob.
At 2:30 this morning q crowd OF q
thousand people stood around the Jail.
1t had been rumored that an attempt
would be made to take Mitchell from
jail and hang him. The crowd broke in
to the Jail yard and were making for the
Jail when Capt. Leonard in command of
the militia, gave them three minutes to
dispense. There was q general rush
from the jail yard but the crowd again
returned. The militia then opened fire
on the crowd and shot twenty rounds
The volley resulted in Harry Bell and |
a young man named Hagins being shot
and killed instantly, and ten other per-
sons were wounded, several of them
seriously. The crowd gathered again
and made an immediate attack upon
the Jail. Mitchell was in a moment
in the hands of the mob, and the next
minute he was hanging from the near
est tree. Hundreds of women were
present and witnessed the final scene of
the mobs fury.
The men taking part in the lynching
made no attempt to disguise them
selves, but it is not known who do the
work, and the person who attempts to
find out will get himself into serious
trouble. This much is known, how
ever-they did their work well, and
that is all the people wish to know. 1t |
is doubtful If Mitchell died from the |
effects of the hanging. His miserable
life had been almost kicked out of him
before he was strung up. His body
was left hanging for an hour or more,
and the people of the city hocked to
see it. It was finally cut down and
placed in an undertakcr's box and left
lying in the court house yard open to
public gaze.
COLUMBUS, o., June 4.-Governor
Bushnell is en- route here from Wooster
Ohio.