The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-11-15
Dakota Mob Lynches Three In
dian Prisoners
For the Murder of Six of the
Spicer Family.
TOOK THEM FROM JAIL
Special Waterman Opened the
Jail Door
Thinking Some Friends Were
Coming to See Him.

Bismarck, N. D., Nov. 15-Alex Cou-
dot, Indian halfbreed; Paul Holy Track
and Philip Ireland, fullbloOded Indians,
the first of whom was sentenced to
death for the murder of six members
of the Spicer family last February, and
has just been granted a new trial by
the supreme court, and the latter two
self-confessed accessories in the muir
der, were taken from the county jail in
EmmOns county Saturday night and
lynched by a mob. The lynchlng had
been apparently coolly planned and
was carried out without break in the
programme. Wilhamsport, where the
hanging took place, is about 40 miles
from this City and off the railroad. The
news OF the hanging was received here
when a mounted messenger arrived, his
horse in a foam from a swift ride, and
announced that the three men had been
lynched- The sheriff of the county, Pc
ter ShIer, was in this city at the time
the hanging occurred and it was to him
that the messenger rode in such hot
haste. The men had been under the
custody of Deputy Sheriff Ten Kelley,
and they were taken from under his
control by the mob and hanged to a
beef Windlass several hundred yards
from the Jail, where their bodies were
left swinging to the breeze during the
entire day, the coroner not having yet
arrived and no one else volunteering
to cut them down. There were about
40 men concerned in the Iynching.
They rode into WilliamspOrt on
horseback late at night and tethered
their horses a short distance from the
city that they might secure them again
as speedily as necessary after the deed
was done. The jail in which the pris-
Oners were confined is a substantial
brick structure and was in charge OF
Deputy Sheriff Thomas Kelley. Since
the confinement OF the prisoners there
so great has been the fear that they
might escape in some way that one
man has watched all night within the
soil f1Tr r7fr all
watch. There was a meeting of the
lodge of WOOdmen in a building near
the Jail, and as Kelley was q member
he expected to meet some of the mem
bers of the lodge, after the meeting had
adjourned. To while away the time
during the night hours, he was playing
solitaire in front of the cells in which
the murderers were confined. About
o'clock in the morning there was a rap
at the outer door of the Jail, and Kel-
ley arose quickly and turned the key
in the lock, thinking that the persons
he expected to meet had arrived. No
sooner had he opened the door than the
mob crowded into the corridors. All of
them were masked and the leaders
carried ropes purchased for the Occa-
sion. Kelley at once realized that the
mob had come after his prisoners. The
lyncherS were quiet but determined.
The leaders presented a revolver at the
head of the deputy sheriff and told him
they wanted his prisoners and demand
ed that he open the cells in which they
were confined. Kelley demurred but
saw that resistance was useless and
unlocked the door. Two of the prison
ers We're confined together and the 9TH
er was in a separate cell.
They had been aroused from sleep by
the entrance of the men and sat up
half awake and trembling with terror
Holy Track and Ireland were dragged
from their beds. ropes were fastened
about their necks and they were drag
ged out on the grounds after being told
to prepare for death. The men were
then dragged to a huge beef windlass
which had been erected to suspend the
carcasses Of slaughtered beeves, and
strung up on a cross beam. COudOt was
the first man to be hanged. 1t is re-
ported that he was asked before he
was hanged whether Black Hawk and
Defender had also been concerned in
the murder for which he was about to
be hanged. He answered that they had
been. The rope which had been fasten-
ed about his neck was then thrown
over the cross beam. and he was raised
off the ground and suspended in the
air. Holy Track and Ireland were so
nearly unconscious from the effects of
the dragging that they did not realize
what was about to happen, when the
ropes about their necks were tossed
over the same beam. They were I'M
able to stand and were slowly raised
from the ground on which they lay
until their bodies swung in the air and
dangled from the WindIass with that
of CoudOt. The mob then dispersed,
T-id