The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-03-17
| MASKED MURDERERS
Ihoot Down Georgia Negroes Who
il. Were Charged With Arson.
-FOUR KILLED, THREE WOUNDED.
Nine Accused Men, Guarded by Three,
Were Awaiting a Hearing When q
Mob Of Twenty OverpOwered tho
Guards and Began the Slaughter.


We're Awaiting a Hearing When
Mob Of Twenty Overpowered tho
Guards and Began the Slaughter.
Palmetto, Ga, March 17.-Twenty
men, armed and masked, rode into this
little town at an early hour yesterday
morning and put to death four negroes,
fatally wounded one, shot another and
broke the arm Of the seventh man. Two
others who were of the crowd upon
which the bullets were showcrcd miracu-
lously escaped. These unfortunates were
under the guard of three awaiting the
hour of 8 o'clock, when they were to
have a hearing before justice of the
peace on the charge Of arson. The dead
are William Cotton, Jr.. Harrison Hud-
son, Ed Brown and Henry Bingham. Fa-
tally wounded, John Bighy. Wounded,
John Jameson and George Tatum (arm
br0ken).
The negroes were confined in the Office
of the johnson warehouse, One-stOry
building just across the track from the
Atlanta and West Point depot. They
were arrested "Wednesday and tied to-
gether with ropes, and were passing the
night under the protection of three
guards sworn In for that purpose. Their
preliminary trial was set for 0 O'Clock
yesterday morning.
About 1 o'clorG in the morning about
20 men, masked and mounted, rode up
to the warehouse Without waiting to
announce themselves to the guards within
they forced the doors of the warehouse
and second later xkpod in the Office
where the negroes WIRE lying on the
floor around the fire. The guards were
covered by Winchesters and with hands
up were marched to one side of the little
room and stood against the wall The
negroes, who were frightened into 81
lence by the bursting Of the door, now
realized their position. Scream after
scream went up from the victims as
they saw the CLEAN of firearms. Their
appeals for mercy were unheedcd. a
short, heavy set man, whose features
were completely concealed by white
handkerchief. acted as leader. He
cursed the blacks into silence for mo-
ment and told his men to get ready.
After looking at each negro he COM
mUnueu tneM 10 get up.
A last appeal for mercy went un-
needed. and the word "tre" rang out
in the little room. The volley filled the
room with fire and smoke and the ne
groes fell in heap on the floor.
The noise awakened the little town,
and as the lights began to twinkle in
windows here and there second vollry
sealed the doom of those who We're for
tunate to escape the murderous fire Of
the first charge. AS the mob made
ready to depart three or four men with
pistols sent bullets into the PROSTATE
forms on the floor, and inside Of ten
minutes after the masked crew had eli
tered Johnson's warehouse on their mur-
derous errand they had completed their
work and were on their way to safety
on the backs of feet horses.
Citizens began to arrive at the ware
house, being under the impression that
the guards were murdered by the nc-
groes. Mayor Arnold telegraphed Gov
ernor Gambler of the occurrence and
asked for the militia. He then depu-
tized rs citizens TO preserve order, and
arming them with rifles placed them on
duty in different parts of the town.
Daylight in the warehouse revealed
Bickening sight. Blood covered the floor
and the walls were indented with bull
lets from the Winchesters and other
arms Wives .and children OF the ne
groes knelt by the bodies Of their dead,
and endeayored to console the wounded.
Doctors administered to the wounded
until noon, when friends removed them
to their homes. The dead, whose bodies
we're horribly mangled, remained where
they were until shortly after noon, when
coroner's jury was empauelled. In
the absence Of Coroner Dunlap Justice
of the Peace Cummings summoned the
fury and conducted the inquest. The
jury rendered the following verdict:
"We, the coroner's jury empanctled
in the causes Of the death Of lIar-
rison HitsOn. William Cotton, Jr, Ed
Brown and Henry Bingham, find that
they came to their death from gunshot or
pistol shot wounds from crowd Of
masked men to the jury unknown, a
little after midnight or on the morning
Of the 10th of March, 1S09.'
The town has been visited by two In
crndiary fires since Feb. l, and the
citizens have been afraid to rebuild ow-
ing TO fhe oft repeated threats of the
negroes that they would do the same
thing again. The county authorities
have been very active in their efforts
TO apprchend the ncendiaries and on
NNoJ,,eI,, nrrovfod ninn paorons Will
s.,, ro,.or hoJ oonf.ssod ia nr TT T.