Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-15
SHOT IN THEIR CELLS
Indiana Mob Lynches Five Prisoners
Charged With Burglary.
THE JAILER Was 0VERPOWERED
Gov. Mount Orders an investigation
of the LawIess Deed.
WILL PUNISH PERPETRATORS

VERSAILLES. Ind. September ia
mob of 400 Infatuated men last night
lynched Lyle Levi, Bert Andrews, Clifford
Gordon William Jenkins and Hiney Shuler.
They were taken from the authorities.
The men had been arrested for burglary.
Frequent robberies had enraged the citi-
Gems of the county. and the mob was COM
posed of citizens from Milan, Sunman and
other towns.
The mob on horseback entered the town
an hour after midnight and called out
Jailer Kenan, who, upon refusing to give
up the keys, was overpowered. The mob
soon pushed its way into the cell rooms,
and in their Impotence first fired on the
five prisoners and then dragged them to
tree. a square from the Jail door and
hung them up.
Two Already Wounded.
Andrews and Gordon had already been
wounded, having been shot several times
while attempting to rob store at Correct
last Saturday night.
Shuler was in Jail for attempted bur-
glary, and Levi and Jenkins had just been
indicted by the grand jury for robbery.
They had failed to give bond, and were
put in Jail last evening.
1t is thought that Levi and Shuler were
both dead from the shots fired by the mob
When taken out of the Jail.
The bandages that were on the wounded
men were found later this morning along
the street, where they had been torn off
as the men We're dragged along.
Lyle Levi was an old soldier and bore
on his face wounds received during the
civil war while fighting for the Union.
None of the lynchers are known. They
all came from distance, presumably from
the neighborhood of Correct where the
two men were arrested Saturday night
Gov. Mount Makes Inquiries.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. September 10
Gcv. Mount has sent the following to the
sheriff of Ripley county:
Wire me at once the particulars of
lyEchihg that has occurred in your county.
further di,ect that you proceed imme
diately with all the power you can COM
mand to bring to justice all parties guilty
men alleged to have been lynched. Such
lawlessness is intolerable. and all the pow
er of the state. If necessary, will be Wig
orously employed for the arrest and pun
ishment of all parties implicated.
(SfgneD JAMES A. MOUNT, Governor"
The story in Detail.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. September IA spe-
cial to the Evening Post from Osgcod, Ind,
says:
lncensed by numerous depredations. re-
peated burglaries and daylight robberies
the people of Ripley county have taken the
law into their own hands, and melted out
to the perpetrators a punishment greater
than provided by the law Five men who
have long been terror 10 the citizens of
this county, met their death at the hands of
an enraged populace, and when the citizens
of Versailles, the county seat, arose this
morning, it was to find the bodies of these
five men dangling from as many limbs Of
an elm tree in the center of the public
square.
Stout ropes, not over six feet IN length
had served to send each to his eternity, and
their feet were but a few inches from the
ground, while their hands and feet had
been securely pinioned with strong ropes.
Versailles is town of some 500 peop;e
1t is one of the oldest in the state, and al
though it is five miles from railroad sta
ton and has no Geographic communication
with the outside world, it is still the county
seat.
Victims of Lawless Gang.
For four or five years. and even longer,
the farmers of the county have been the
victims of a lawless gang, who. apparently
lacking in fear, have piled their vocation
to the terror of the people, for they SEEM
ingly have had no visible means of earn
ing living.
Farmers would come into town with a
bunch of cattle or load of farming products
and next morning they would be found
along the roadside suffering from wound
and minus the proceeds of their sale.
Old German farmers have been visited,
and both men and women have been sub
jected to all the tortures that a vicious
mind could suggest. Aged German women
have been forced to stand upon red-hot
stove in an effort to compel them to dis
close the hiding place Of some supposed
treasure in TIE Ilouse. These depredations
lave continued INCREASINGLY. Arrests have
been made, but the guilty parties have
covered up their lawlessness. and it was
seldom that conviction followed.
During the past week robberes had in
creased alarmingly. On last Saturday
wcrd was received by the sheriff that the
store of Wooley Bros, at Correct. Ind,
ten miles from here, was to be entered.
The information was given by one of the
gangs confederates who had been under
suspicion. Sheriff Henry Bushing arTang-
ed that his informant should accompany
them and securing five deputies they went
to the place. Sheriff Bushing concealed
himself in the cellar, while his deputies
were stationed at a convenient distance
outside. Shortly after midnight the gang
reached Wooley Bros store. Clifford Cor
don and the sheriff's informant were desig-
mated to break into the building. Gordon
himself effected entrance, and just as
he stepped inside the sheriff grabbed him.
Both pulled pistols at the same time and
began firing. Bert Andrews was with the
robbers and he Joined in the fusillade, while
the deputies came to the assistance of the
sheriff.
Sheriff Was Wounded.
Some thirty shots were fired. The sheriff
was shot through the hand and Gordon
was shot several times. Three pistol balls
entered his body, and he was also shot
in the leg. Gordon and Andrews succeeded
in escaping al came to Osgood, where they
were arrested. The robbers had driven
out of the place in n buggy belonging to
Lyle Levi. and from information subse-
quently gathered ii was learned that the
robbery had been planned at the home of
VIM. Jenkins. The two latter were ar
rested as accessories. All were taken 10
the Jail al Versailles. Henry SCHUYLER.
"A years old, was put in the jail for
robbing the barber shop at Osgood last
week. Levi was ffty-seven years of age.
Gordon twenty-five, Andrews thirty. and
Jenkins thirty-seven. While the citizens
have not been able to fix the various rob-
berries upon these men, they were thought
to be part of a gang that has committed
most of them. When 1t became known
that they were In jail il was quietly sug-