The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-30


to Be Hanged Only After His AM
munitiOn Was Exhausted Was
Warned in KeOkuk, but Laughed
at the Threats of the Mob.
The recent lynchings in Georgia have
caused a profound sensation throughout
the country. While the method employee
by the mob was perhaps more cruel and
savage, yet there is one lynching charged
UP to the state of Missouri that rivalled
In defiance Of law even the taking off Of
old Iige Strickland, the aged negro
against whom the only evidence OF crime
was a confession by Sam Hose, the
negro who was burned at the stake, that
Strickland had offered him $40 to kill
Farmer Crawford Bill Young, who
owned and resided upon a farm near
Luray. Clark county. Missouri, was az
rested on the charge Of having muir
dered the Spencer family, consisting Of
father, two daughters and one son
Young was tried and acquitted, having
established an alibi. Not long after he
was taken from his home and hanged to
the cross bar of his farm gate. He had
reached his home that afternoon, accom-
panied by his bride, whom he had just
married at Gallipolis, O.
MURDER OF THE SPENCERS.
The murder Of the Spencer family oc-
CURED nearly a score Of years since.
The family resided on a farm not far dis
tant from Luray, Mo. One morning the
neighbors found the entire family dead
the father and two daughters In the
house, and the son in the barn. Spencer
and the girls had been killed with an ak,
the hoy with pitchfork. There was abb
solutely no clue to work upon. officers
were baffled. Relatives of the Spencers
were first to throw suspicion upon Ell
Young. A private detective named Franz
Lane, came to Keokuk, To-, and worked
the rewards that had been offered for the
apprehension and conviction of the
Spencer murderer Lane finally succeed
| ed in having Bill Young arrested for the
| crime. He was indicted and the case
| came to trial. attracting attention
| throughout the country, all the grea
| newspapers having representatives at the
| hearing.
YOUNG ACQUITTED.
At the trial Bill Young produced as 9
witness in his behalf a Miss Laura
Sprouse, who testified that Young was 1r
her company on the night OF the Spencer
murder, and upon her testimony Young
so completely established an alibi that the
jury brought in verdict of not guilty
and he went forth free man. There was
no doubt in the public mind that Laura
Sprouse was in love with Young Soon
after his acquittal he went to Ohio and
married another woman, and it was said
that this so enraged Miss Sprouse that
she caused to be circulated story to the
effect that she had rot testified truth
fully at the trial. This she would neither
affirm nor deny, saying that even were 1t
true she did not propose to convict her
self of perjury. 1t was due to the
stories thus circulated that public opinion
against Young was again aroused, and
the lynching of the man who had been
tried for the crime and pronounced in
nocent followed.
YOUNG is WARNED.
On the day that Bill Young arrived in
Keokuk with his bride, on his return
home there came to the Gate City, the
Keokuk newspaper, the following teio-
gram from LLray:
Mob forming to lynch Bill Young upon
his arrival at home. Frank Lane Is at
the head of it. Mob is in earnest, and
will undoubtedly hank the man If he re-
turns here
was city editor of the Gate City at
the time, and carried the telegram to the
Stanleigh house. where Young and his
bride were stopping. found them at
dinner. The dispatch was shown to
Young. He laughed at 1t and said:
''Ail L have in the world Is my farm in
Clark county. That is my home have
been tried for murder of the Spencers and
acquitted. / am not afraid of the mob.
| shall return home this afternoon"
Mr.. and Mrs. Young left Keokuk shortly
after dinner, and were met at the Loray
depot by men from Young's place, who
4 endeavored to persuade him to return
/. to Keokulz while there was yet time, the
mob not having arrived. This Young re-
fused to do and was taken to his home.
MOB ARRIVES.
AS soon as Young arrived there he pre-
pared for a seige. The house was barri-
caded and Young got out his shot gun
and revolver. The mob approached eau
tiously. There were about 200 of the
avengers. They made a demand for
Young to surrender. threatening to fire
upon him should he refuse. The man who
bore a flag of truce to the house was
permitted to return to the mob with the
reply of Young, to the effect that he
would kill the first to approach. Then
the seige began. The mob made rush
for the house and were met by such
warm reception of buckshot that the
crowd retired to the shelter of the trees,
carrying with them two wounded. Then
the fusilade became general. Finally,
after nearly two hours Of that sort of
work, Young's ammunition gave out, and
he was at the mercy of the men who
sought his life.
FOUGHT EVERY INCH
With a shout the mob, with Detective
Frank Lane in the lead, dashed up to and
into the house. Young, who had been
shot in the hand and head, retreated up
stairs, and when his pursuers followed
he struck down several of them with an
old saber, the only effective weapon in
his possession. But he was finally over
powered and dragged downstairs. His
bride pleaded with the mob and fought
for her husbands life with the ferocity
of a tigress, but all to no avail Young
was dragged away while she was held a
prisoner in the house, and his fife was
settled. There was no mercy there.
The resistance Young had offered simply