Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-08-11
FIVE WE'RE LYNCHED.
Terrible Outcome of Brutal Murder
In Arkansas.

Terrible Outcome of Brutal Murder
In Arkansas.
LITTLE Rock, ARK, August lo.-Five
negroes are hanging from the limbs of
trees near the railroad track. and the
widow of John T. Orr is dead in her cell.
This is the tragic denouement Of the as
sassination of John t. Orr, a wealthy
merchant at Clarendon few nights ago.
The wife died from a dose of poison.
sef-administered. and the negroes. her
associates in crime, were strung up by a
mob OF citizens. The lynched are Manse
Castle, Dennis Ricard. Rilla Weaver,
Susie Jacobs and Will Saunders.
ORDERLY BUT DETERMINED.
At midnight mob. composed of 300
citizens, visited the Monroe county Jail
at Clarendon, took thererom the prison
ers charged with the murder of Orr, and
lynched them. The mob was most or
derby one, not a word being unnecessarily
spoken, and rot a shot being fired. They
marched to the Jail and demanded the
Keys Of Deputy-Sheriff Frank Milwee,
who was in charge. He at first refused
their demands. but seeing their earnest
ness turned over to them the keys. A
committee Of the mob went inside the
jail and brought out the prisoners and
hanged them to the tramway of the Hal
perm saw-mill, which stands about 100
yards in the rear Of the Jail.
VIII Saunders was the one who fired
the shot that killed Mr.. Orr, and Rilla
Weaver, his mother. was cook in the Orr
households: Dennis Rlcard was the hoo
Goo doctor" and conjurer, who tried to
poison Orr with dried snakeheads, and
Manse Castle volunteered to do the Job
and transferred it to Saunders Miss
Rachael Morris, accused of being an ac-
cessory before the fact, has disappeared,
and her whereabouts are unknown to the
officers.
THE SIGNIFICANT PLACARD.
A placard bearing these words was at
tached TO the bodies: This is the penalty
for murder and criminal assault"
Ihe negroes remained where they were
until A. NJ. to-day. Great crowds view
ed the sight. The negroes seem to en-
dorse the lynching, and many of them
are open in their expressions of satisfac-
ton over the death of Dennis Ricard,
whose arts of hoodoo and conjurlng made
him an object of dread to them.
While the five bodies swung in the early
morning breeze, the body of the widow of
the murdered man lay dead In her cell In
the county jail, with only the soft, sweet
voice of her 3-year-old child to break the
midnight silence Of the gloomy cell, as
the innocent little tot vainly cried for
Mamma"
MRS. ORR CONFESSED.
Somewhere young woman, once promi-
nent in Clarendon circles, IS a. fugitive
from justice, hunted by the officers OF the
law, charged with murder Her name Is
Miss Rachael Morris. and she is the only
survivor or the coterie of seven named in
the Coroner's verdict as being responsible
for the tragic death Of John Il. Orr. Mrs.
Orr died by her own hands. After COM
pletely breaking down and making a par
tial confession, in some way she obtained
quantity of poison and took the dose
| about 2 o'clock Monday afternoon She
! never regalned consciousness.
HISTORY OF THE CRIME.
Late Saturday night John T. Orr was as
sassinated while making a glass OF lemon
ade. He had just returned from choir
( practice, where his wife was organist. The
crime was shrouded In mystery unit
Miss Norris told somebody that she knew
quest, extending over two days, a verdict
was rendered, charging Mrs. Orr, the muir.
dered mans wife, with being the instiga-
tor OF the crime. Miss Rachael Morris
Manse Castle, VIII Sanders, Dennis Ri
| card, Rilla Weaver and Susie Jacobs-the
five last-named negroes-were charged
with completely in the crime.
TWO HUNDRED FOR HIS MURDER.
-
five negroes, Mrs. Orr made a confess
sion. She admitted that she had said TO
her cook that she wished her husband
dead, and that she would be willing TO
give 500 to anybody to kill him, but she
said this was uttered while in a fit Of
anger, and that she was innocent Of any
criminal intention. Her husband abused
her. she said, and once struck her, and
she, being OF high temper herself, some
times said things in anger that she did
not mean. Mrs. orr, seeing that she
would meet death at the hands Of the
law, preferred another route, and conse-
quently took poison. She died late yes
terday afternoon in the Jail.
TRUE TO HER BABY.
Just before she lapsed into unconscious
ness she willed all Of her property TO her
4-year-old daughter, Neva. and placed It
in trust with the Clarendon Lodge,
Knights OF Pythias, Of which her dead
husband was a prominent member.
John Orr was several years ago thea
trical man, and IN 1890 was manager Of a
theatre in a small Wisconsin town. There
he met and married his wife. The mar
rage was clandestine, and the brides pa
rents were bitterly opposed to It. The
Orrs lived happily but a short time. Orr
prospered, and was considered wealthy at
the time OF his death. His life was in
sured for $500.
WE'RE GOING TO NEW YORK.
1t appears from letters received by Mrs.
Orr in the name Of her cook, Rilla Wea-
yer. through whom all the correspondence
was conducted, that Mrs. Orr and Rachael
Morris were to remain here until Mr..
Orr's insurance money was collected and
then go TO New York, where they were
TO meet two men and form a theatrical
company. Mrs. Orr was also In corre-