Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-11-15
JUDGE LYNCH IN SESSION.
Three Indians Hanged at a Minnesota
Village,
For the Murder of Six Members Of
the Spicer Family, Last February.
The Job Done by Forty Mounted
Men Strung Up to Beef Wind
lass, a Short Distance from the
Jail.

Paul Holy Track and Philip Ireland,
full blooded Indians, the first of whom
was sentenced to death for the murder
of six members of the Spicer family,
last February, and had just been grant
ed new trial by the Supreme Court,
and the latter two self-confessed ac-
cessories in the murder, were taken
from the county Jail in EmmonS coun-
ty last night and lynched by mob.
The lynching had been apparently
coolly planned and was
CARRIED OUT WITHOUT A BREAK
in the programme. Sudden and swift
retribution was meted out by the mob
where the hanging took place, is about
forty miles from this city and off the
railroad. The news of the hanging
was received here this afternoon when
a mounted messenger arrived, his horse
in a foam from a swift ride, and an
nounced that the three men had been
lynched. The sheriff of the county,
Peter 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 I'M
der the custody of Deputy Sheriff Tom
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 the bodies were still 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 forty
men concerned in the lynching. They
rode into Williamsport on horseback
last 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 prisoners were
confined is substantial building, and
was in charge Of Deputy Sheriff Thos.
Kelley. Since the confinement of the
prisoners therein so great has been the
fear that they might escape in some
way that one man has
WATCHED ALL NIGHT
within the Jail, and last night Kelly
was on watch. There was meeting Of
the Lodge of Woodmen in a building
near the Jail, and as Kelly was a
member he expected to meet some of
the members 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 con-
fined. About two o'clock in the morn
ing there was rap at the door of the
Jail and Kelly arose quickly and turned
the key in the lock, thinking that the
persons he expected to meet had ar
rived. No sooner had he opened the
door than the mob crowded into the
corridors. All of them were masked
and the leaders carried ropes for the
occasion. Kelly at once realized that
the mob had come after the prisoners
The lynchers were quiet but determin-
ed. The leaders presented a revolver
at the head of the deputy sheriff and
told him they wanted his prisoners,
and demanded that he open the cells
which they were confined in. Kelly de-
INJURED, but saw that
RESISTANCE WAS USELESS
and unlocked the cells. Two prisoners
were confined together and the other 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 dragged out on the grounds
after being tod to prepare for death.
The men were dragged to 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 was reported that he was asked be-
fore he was hanged whether Black
Hawk and Defender had also been con-
cerned in the murder, for which he was
ABOUT TO BE HANGED.
He answered that they had been. The
rope which had been fastened 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 fhe same beam.
They were unable to stand and were
slowly raised from the ground on which
they laid until their bodies swung in
the air and dangled from the windlasS
with that of Coudot The mob then dis
perse, mounted their horses and rode
away.
PROMINENT CITIZENS DID IT.
Osceola, Ark, Nov 14.-Henry Phil
lips. alias Doc Jones, a negro, a self
confessed murderer and moonshiner,
was lynched in the court yard here al
midnight last night by mob composed
Of prominent citizens Of this town and
surrounding country. The direct cause
CT the lynching was the murder Of a
merchant near here by Phillips few
days ago.
CONTRACTS AWARDED.
Special to the Register.
Washington. November 14-The