The herald., 1897-09-16
A JOB LOT OF DEsPERADoEs
HANGED ON A TREE IN THE
COURTHOUSE YARD
The Town Under Guard for Fear Of
Incendiarism by the Dead
Mems Friends
associated Press Special Wire.

county lOr d lUHS tlilie HAS petu teIioi AASu
by a gang of bold robbers and burglars.
Versailles is the county seat, and when
the citizens arose this morning they
found five corpses dangling by their
necks from an elm tree in the center of
the public square. their feet but few
inches from the ground and hands and
feet tied by stout ropes. For four years
the people of the county have been sub
jected to outrage and robbery. Farmers
were held up beaten and robbed, women
tortured to make, them tell where money
was concealed, being compelled to stand
on red-hot stoves. Many arrests had
been made, but the guilty parties always
managed to escape conviction. Last
week robberies were frequent and on
Saturday the Sheriff was informed that
an attempt would be made to rob store
at Correct, Ind, ten miles away. Secur-
ing five deputies Sheriff Bushing went to
the place and concealed in the cellar
waited for the burglars.
They came at midnight. Clifford Cor
don entered first and as soon as he did
the Sheriff grabbed him. Both drew pts
tolls a the same time and opened fire. The
robbers and deputies followed suit and
thirty shots were f1red. The Sheriff was
shot in the head and body four times.
The robbers escaped, but subsequently
were arrested and taken to the Versailles
Jail Others of the gang were arrested
later and the citizens soon gathered and
determined to make an example.
Shortly before 2 o'clock this morning a
crowd assembled quietly and compelled
the jailer to deliver the keys and open
the Jail. The mob filed In and took Henry
Schiller, aged "a, Lyle Levi aged 81, Cliff
ford Gordon, aged %. Bert Andsome
aged 30, William Jenkins, aged 27. Three
of them showed fight. Levy was shot
through the breast while the skulls OF
Jenkins and Andsome were crushed with
stool. A rope was put around the neck
Of each of the five and after their hands
and feet were pinioned. all were dragged
two hundred feet to the elm tree from
which they were suspended. The hanging
of two or three more Of the gang Is al
ready talked Of and the citizens say no
troops are wanted. None of the lynchers
are known.
Versailles is place Of only f1fty
population, the county seat of Ripley
county and thirty miles from a railway
or telegraph office.
The lynchers came from all directions
till they were about 400. At o'clock a
rocket went up. 1t was the first signal.
Then there was a skyrocket sent up
north Of town, followed by others from
the other sides of town. and the march
ers to the Jail proceeded as orderly as a
regular army till the men met from all
rorto nf the ponrfv at tho iai1 Tho die.
lance had been carefully arranged on
each side Of the town, so that they were
about equi-distant from the Jail. The
program had been 20 carefully prepared
and carried out that there was no delay
at the Jail or anywhere.
1t has been the most exciting day In
the history of this city. The lynching
caused such sensation in the city that
it readily spread throughout the county
and no occasion ever before attracted
such crowd to the city.
Southern Indiana has been afflicted
with lawless gangs. The railroads and
express companies broke up the depre-
dations of these gangs along their lines
ard latterly they have preyed upon the
citizens. The citizens have taken the
law into their own hands in this To-
caity before, but never to such an ex-
tent as today.
The Reno brothers were lynched to-
gether twenty years ago; the Archer
gang, three in number, were strung UP
together at Showls, Ind, twelve years
ago, and there have been numerous
lynchirgs, one at time, but the "job
lot" of five today breaks the record.
That an unusual state Of feeling exist
| ed Is shown by the ferocity Of the mob,
which first killed three Of the men In the
Jail and then, dragging the living and
dead together, hanged them to the same
| tree.
| 1t Is notable, too, that no outrage that
usually rouses mobS vengeance
murder or ravishment-was charged
against the victims, but their death was
| decreed because of long and exasperat-
| ing suffering from robberies some of
which were accompanied by torture to
the victims The excitement of the day
was not lessened by the suppressed hints
that more objects of the peoples wrath
would be made to suffer in the same
way.
The five victims were all residents of
| Osgood, three miles away. Two men
were left in Jail, Chas. Kelley, aged a.
for burglary, and Arthur McMillen, for
carrying concealed weapons. The lat
ter was let out tonight on bond. McMi-
| len says three prisoners were killed in
the Jail and one of the others almost
killed there. Tonight the town is pick
eted, it being feared the friends of the
lynched men will burn the town out Of
revenge.
At late hour tonight Kelly was taken
from the jail and lodged at the hotel
under guard.
THE GOVERNOR WILL ACT
INDIANAPOLIS. Ind, Sept 15.-Con-
cerning the lynching at Versailles, Ind,
last night, Governor Mount said:
The place where the lynching took
place being remote from railroad or
telegraph stations, have been unable
70 secure particulars Of the lamentabie
occurrence beyond the information con-
veyed by press dispatches. The out
break was wholly unexpected and had
not the slightest intimation of the i'm
pending lawlessness As soon az learn
|