The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-08
OLD HOOSIER LYNCHINGS
THE WORK OF MOBS IN EARLY DAYS
OF THE STATE RECALLED.
Peace-LOving Citizens Now Favor the
Proposed Law to Discourage I'ur-
Their Lynching Bees.

! SEYMOUR, Jan. THE proposed action
| on the part of the General Assembly TO
take up Governor Mounts bill holding the
county in which a lynching takes place liza
| BILE to the next of kin in a sum ranging
from 1850 to $4,000, the amount to be in
accordance with the lynched partys stand
J. ing in the community, and the enormity of
the crime committed by the party lynched
| meets with general approval here, where
mobs in time past had their headquarters
| The Governor had the bill under considera-
ton since the Iynching of the Levy gang
| of five men, who were brutaIly shot to
| death in the Ripley county Jail at Versailles
on Sept. 6, 1897, and then hanged to
a tree. The Governor made every effort to
have the guilty men punished. Detectives
secured the names of dozens who were in
| the mob and one arrest was made At the
preliminary hearing before a magistrate in
| Ripley county the trial developed into
religious farce, the days proceedings being
opened with prayer by the pastor of the
| congregation of which the accused men and
magistrate were members. The trial ended
with a verdict in favor of the defendants
This decision brought the Governor to his
ropes end, as the law of the State grants
every person accused Of crime the right to
be tried in the county in which the offense
| is committed.
The Governors bill is to give the near
relatives of a lynched party the right to
| bring civil action for damages against the
| county and he may take change of venue.
| By that means it would be tried in another
! county, and there would be a fair chance of
getting verdict for damages a thing that
would be almost impossible if the case We're
| tried in the county where the lynching had
taken place.
The recent lynching Of Marion Tyler at
| ScOttsburg, which occurred on Dec. a. will
! give the Governors bill clear sailing Tyler
was confined in the Scott county Jail on the
| charge of having attempted to murder his
wife, who had left him at Indianapolis and
returned to her mothers home at Scotts-
burg. Tyler went to that place Nov. Sd to
| beg her to return to his home with him. He
went to her mothers home that afternoon,
! where he met his wife, who refused to listen
to his entreaties. Crazed over her refusal
he shot his wife twice and attempted suicide
! by firing two bullets into his own body
Both had recovered from their wounds
when the lynching occurred.
TYLER NO MURDERER.
Since the lynching, a resident of Scott
! county states that Mrs. Tyler, wife of the
victim, prior to the iynching repeatedly
! begged her friends not TO prosecute her hus-
band, and stated that she seized his arm to
prevent his committing suicide and that
she was accidentally shot This startling
revelation has awakened the press and pull
| pit, both of whom are denouncing the muir
! der of Tyler in the bitterest terms Ac-
! cording to Mrs. Tyler's statement her hus-
! band did not attempt to murder her. and
therefore, there could have been no grounds
for the lynching unless it was for the failure
at self-destruction.
Southern Indiana has long been noted for
its lynching bees, the most notable being
the lynching of the Reno gang. This gang
| had its headquarters at Rockford. 1t car
! ried on depredations in a number of States
and for several years escaped punishment
by being supplied with an abundance of
money with which to employ the best attor-
! neys. Hugh M. WOodmansee, a Brownstown
merchant, while on his way to Cincinnati
! with %,S00 on his person, was robbed and
murdered by the gang in a hotel in Seymour
on Jan. 4, 1866 and his headless body was
sewed in a coffee sack and thrown into
! White river, where it was found the follow
| ing November. Jordan Mckinney a man
! who was supposed to know something about
the murder, was called to his door one night
end shot dead This deed was committed by
some member Of the gang who feared that
the old man would 'squeal." Shortly after
the murder of Mckinney a number of trains
were robbed, express messengers were held
up and thousands of dollars were stolen.
Engines, with express cars. were detached
from regular trains and robbed One night
a passenger train on the Jacksonville, Madi-
son & Indianapolis Railway was held up.
! The engineer and fireman We're compelled to
! leave the engine; the express car was de-
/ tached from the train and a run of twenty
five miles was made. and the express safe,
containing $4,000 thrown out of the
car and robbed of it's contents.
| The vigilance committee of southern In
diana was sool after organized. The sign
used by the committee was a triangle with
| two parallel lines underneath it. Tt was not
| an uncommon thing to see the marks upon
| the walls in 1868. No one but the mem
| bers of the committee knew what the sign
meant, but whenever it appeared it meant
! trouble for some one. In June 1863 the vigil
! lance committee first made known its exist
! ence. Volney Elliott, Charley Roseberry
and Field Clifton three members Of the
! gang, were hanged at what has since been
known as Hangmans Crossing They used a
large beach tree, which stood near the rail-
! road crossing. and which was used in July
of the same year by the vigilants on which
| to hang Frank Sparks. John Moore and
! Henry Terrell. The tree has since been cut
| down by the people, and parts of it can be
/ found in all sections of the world Several
younger members of the gang were SEN
| fenced to the pententiary. John Reno had
! gone to Missouri, where he was arrested for
robbing a county treasury OF $4,000. and was
! sentenced to twenty-one years in the peni-
! tertiary. Frank Simeon and William Reno
and John Anderson escaped to Canada but
were brought back to this country by the
! express company. and, by request Of the
/ criminals, were taken TO New Albany, think
! ing that they would there escape the vigil.
/ lants. Such was not the case, for in Novem-
! Der, 1868. the committee visited New Al
| bany one night and hanged all four of them
| from the balcony surrounding the second
| tier of cells. After the lynehing of the
! ten members of the gang and the placing be-
/ hind prison bars of the remainder crime
/ ceased The friends Of the criminals threat
ened vengeance against men whom they sup
/ posed had been members of the committee,
and employed detectives and attempted to
unrnask them. The detectives remained
! around Seymour for some time and if any
knowledge was ascertained they failed to
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