The times., 1897-04-29
The Third Jury Conyicts Lewis
and Fixes His Fate.
VERDICT WAS A RESPITE
Five Minutes Further Delay and
the Prisoner Would Have DangIed
From the Courthouse Portico-A
Day of Observation-Disclosures Negro
Narrowly Escapes Mob yengeance.

! The jury in the Lewis case at 920tonighi
rendered verdict OF guilty us charged IL
| the indictment, and fixed the penalty a
1 death.
| Their return at that moment preven te6
| lynching. A delay OF five minutes more
and Lewis would have been strung up in
| side the courthouse and riddled with bul
| lets. The crowd was on the qui viye ant
/ ready to act. When the court reconvenct
| at 7:3 o Attorney Ford made a brief ar
| gument Ia behalf of the prisoner, and Com
Iuouwealth Attorney Lode spoke for mer,
| than half an hour, going into the merits
| of the case. He made strong impression
| upon the jury.
| AT s:25 the jury retired, to their room
while a crowd of 90 people waited eager
Iy and patiently inside and outside Tia,
| courthouse
Fifteen minutes was the general opinion
as to the time within which an agreement
| would bereached. Outside tbemilitia tramp
| ed back ward. and forward on all sides oi
| the courthouse
| Inside the crowd discussed every phase
| or the situation. Five, ten, fifteen minutes
| passed, and the crowd began 10 get tn
! easy. Every body feared the jnry was again
| hung, aud 1t was. Thirty minutes passed
and they called for water, and by this
the crowd anticipated that they would be
| unable to agree. Things began To look
more serious. During this tiIne the prisoner
| sat uncCncerned between guards, and ap
pcared at perfect ease, and unconscious of
the surroundings.
Sheriff Gordon, anticipa ting trouble, took
his position behind Lewis to prevent tie
rope from being thrown around bis neck.
He had good cause for alarm. But a
few steps away from the crowd stood a
man with a suspicious looking bundle. In
it was rope, knctted and creased, ready
for use Every man in the crowd carried
gun, and only waited for the signal.
Twenty-three minutes more passed, and
the report came that the jury stood eleven
for hanging and one for imprisonment.
This was followed by intense excite
nIent. The man with the rope moved to-
ward the prisoner and the crowd fol-
lowed. In five, yes, three, minutes more
Lewis would have been swung from the
balcony in the courthouse. Sheriff Cor
don was consulting with Lieut.. Wingfield
and the militia was about TO enter tie
court room. In this three minutes the jury
was advised OF the situation, and promptly
reported that they had agreed, after fifty
five minutes celebration.
When the jury had filed in and taken
their seats, Judge Lipsconbe requested
that the verdict be received in silence. His
request. however, was not heeded, for
when the clerk read the decision shout
went up which shook the walls or the his
torlc old building.
Lewis received the verdict without any
apparent emotion or concern and expressed
no opinion, except that he was innocent.
lie was Immediately taken back TO jait,
while the crowd and attorney marched
up and congratulated the 1urymen. Lewis
will be sentenced tomorrow morning at To
o'clock.
Under the law the execution cannot take
place within thirty days, but will un-
doubtedly be carried out after the expira-
ton OF that time.
General satisfaction is expressed at the
final outcome OF the trial and crowds have
been marching up and down the streets
shouting AT IL o'clock everything was
quiet and the militia had been withdra vn
1t will return to Charlottesville tomor-
row morning
The presence of the military today pre-
vented the lynching OF another negro.
and it was only by the prompt action OF
cooler heads that Tom Burden, pne of
the witnesses, was not strung up to the
nearest tree iii the courtyard
The people had lost none OF their de-
termination to see Lewis hung, when
shortly before 8 O'Clock this afternoon,
crowd standing in front OF the court
house waiting for the third trial to begin,
sighted the Monticello Guards, forty
strong. from ChaTlo ties Vile, marching
up from the station, in command of Lieut..
Herbert Wiugf1eld Comment was being
freely made upon the action of the gov
ernor in sending the troops, when the negro,
Burden, became loud and boisteTouS. He
asserted with much bravado that the
'.boys in blue would protect the pris-
oDer, and that the crowds who thres, T.
ened to lynch a man would now suik To
their homes. "Those bloodthirsty white
men," continued Burden, will now get
some bullets themselves if they attempt
to harm Lewis"
This was too much for the indignant
people TO stand, and after two or three
citizens had been insuited, the mob seized
him, and several shouted, Hang him.
Others started for a rope, and Burden
was being carried away by about twenty
men, when Sheriff Gordon and several
others interfered and induced the crowd
to release the man. The negro then ran
away, and was last seen Fastening toward
Alexandria, where he lives.
Aside from this disturbance everything
was comparatively quiet today. One of
the most rema rkable legal procedures ever
enacted in the State of Virginia has oe-
CURED since the case was begun here
Monday. The fact that a man has been
tried for his life three times during the
past three days without the adjournment
of court is a judicial proceeding which is
probably without precedent. There We're
practically no new features In the third
trial. W hich began at o'clock this after
onon. Through Interpreter Louis Krafts
Mrs. Reidec again repeated the sad story
of the assault in a most straightforward
and convincing manner.
The poor old lady is scarce able to
stand alone, and had to be assisted in
and out Of the courtroom.
The terrible strain upon her is render
ing her condition critical All OF the testi-
mony heretofore adduced was brought out
again today, and Lewis himself occuyAed
Tho mn ior porfi ion of tpdav,c trial baipD