Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-12-14
COON G D \ BURNED 70 DEATH.
"a MOB OF 1, 1000 sENTUcxiANs SEIZE !, i
NEGRO AssAILANT AND q
BURN HIN 10 Death IT I|A!lEI
Stake, Torturing Him a la Sam, Hose--B cat
His Head and Gouged Out His Eyes.

+ MAYsvILLE, KY, December Co.
Dick Coleman, the negro murderer
of Mrs Iashbrook, was taken from
the officers by mob of 1000 men
to-day and burned at the stake. The
mob, led by the husband of the ne
gro's victim, dragged the shrieking
criminal through the principal streets
of the town, bound him to a small
tree, set fire to brush and wood
about him and stood guard until he
was dead. ..
Coleman arrived here at 1920 this
morning under special guard of
deputy shoriffs, sworn in by the She
riff, including Detective Fitzgerald,
Constable Dawson, Chief of Police
Donovan, all the police force and
two deputy sheriffs. When they ar
rived at the court house they we're
met by a mob of 1000 people, headed
by James Lashbrook, the husband of
the murdered woman, and went i'm
mediately up Second street, through
the central portion of the city to the
hill, followed by fully 5000 of the
citizens of this city and county.
All was done that was possible by
the sheriff and his guards to prevent
a lynohing, but in the face of such a
mob of people, irrespective of color,
it was useless to attempt to do any
thing save deliver him up, which
was done. The mob grabbed the
negro and threw rope over his
head and carried him to a small hol-
low, near the railroad tracks, where
they bound him tightly to a young
sapling. Then tn J heaped huge
pile of brushwood and timber around
him and fred the stack, while his
eyes rolled horribly.
IT WAS AN AWFUL SCENE.
The scene was an awful one, and
around the pyre were thousands of
maddened people, headed by the
husband of the dead woman. A
dozen torches were applied simulta-
neously, and huge tongues of fire
swept up and around the agonized
wretch.
Before the roasting began Cole
man was almost dead. The rope
had torn and lacerated his neck, and
his face was terribly beaten up.
Blue vitroil and cayenne pepper
were thrown into his eyes, and his
face was smashed in with o chunk of
wood.
Coleman said fifteen minutes be-
fore he was set afire that he had
nothing to say. His death was slow,
and, writhing in terrible agony, he
was hooted and glared at by thou
sands of people standing on the edge
of the pit. Many women were pres
ent. lie died at 1856 A.. M. His
eyes, after the pepper and vitriol
were thrown into them, were gouged
out, and some say he was horribly
mutilated.
Just before he died he rose to a
sitting posture and said:
eff you take the flames away,
want to say something," then he
sank back and died.
COLEMAN's CRIME.
The crime for which Coleman was
burned is the murder of Mrs. James
Lashbrook, who had given him a
home and food. She was cnticed by
him to enter q shed to see about
some work, when he knocked her
down and assaulted her. The blow
was not effective, and Coleman
dragged her to a bed in the house,
and, amid her cries for mercy, he
procured razor and cut her throat.
Coleman was burned near the spot
where Chas. Collins was hanged forty
years ago for a similar offense. The
place is now used for cricket grounds.
1t is already announced that Judge
Harbeson will call a special grand
jury a. once to consider charges
against tho leaders of tho mob.
THE COURIER and tho Atlanta Consti-
tuition and tho Homo and Farm one year
for the sum of 81.