Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1899-08-25
A TERRIBLE PUNISHMENT.
As has been stated in the Gazette @

As has been stated in the Gazette Geo.
Wilson, young man who assaulted a
fonr-year. old child in Falls City, Neb.,
WIS taken from Jail on Wednesday
night aud his body mutilated. The mob
numbered 500 men.
About half the city waited the man
lynched, aud rope was obtained and
the prisoner secured with tina; idea in
view. Then someone suggested, as a
compromise, that Wilson should > al-
loved to live, but in a mntilated cor
dtion.
Proceedings were delayed long enough
for The father of the little girl to be con.
suited, and when he expressed bis sat-
isfaction with the compromise the mob
lost no time in carrying out the SEN
teDce.
Three physicians superintended the
operation and saw to il that it was per-
formed scientifically and in such man.
ner as not to cause death. Those in
the mob who desired the mans life
stipulated, however, that be should not
b. given an anaesthetic aud that he
should be forced 10 suffer as such sn
operation scientifically performed with
out narcotics would entail. This was
especially satisfactory to the surgeons,
wuo were not prepared for administer
lug ether to the prisoner.
q Wilson was dragged from his cell and
bound. He saw the ropes, and, sup
posing he was about 10 be lynched,
begged piteously for his life. Some one
10 the crowd yelled -
"You dog It's worst than death you
are going to get" !"
This seemed TO frighten the man more
than ever, and he screamed tranticAlly.
He tod the Jail guards later he supposed
they were going to burn him at the
stake, and that ne would rather have
been lynched.
The men having the immediate work
of handling the wretch paid no atten-
ton 10 his cries.
A large jail bench was turned upside
down, aud the trembling prisoner
forced on top of it. He trembled and
rsved so that cob was forced into his
mouth = @ gag. The surgeons, in the
hickeriog light OF the Jail gas, with two
hundred members OF the mob gazing
upon the scene and several hundred
more c-owding the Jail windows, began
heir work.
When q knife was produced the
prisoner forced the gag from his mouth.
He begged them to kill him.
The first touch OF the knife brought
such yells from the prisoner that some
one standing near took pity on him,
and thrust q whisky bottle partially
in his mouth. He drank pint Of
raw liquor iu moment. This was all
the stlmulant he had.
Ii was over ip moment, and the
doctors turned the half faintiDg man
over to the Jail authorities. The mob
hen quietly dispersed, and other
physicians were sent for to dress the
wounds. They pronounced the work
we'll done, and said the man would re.
cover.
The work of the mob was quickly
! done, and not one member wore q
mask. Bankers, physicians, doctors,
merchants and the most prominent
citizens participated in the atiair.
Their work is the talk of the commuoi-
~, and is generally praised.
Delegate Hargrove, of Clay county,
introduced measure in the Nebcssga
Legislature in 1895 providing tor simu-
,ar punishment tor the crime OF assault.
The bill was ridiculed 80 much that it
never received serious attention, though
| i J. -,
1t is said Wilson will not be prosecu
ted, but will be permitted TO leave
town when he RECEIVERS.