The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1899-12-14

Guiding Detective Fitzgerald, Consta-
BILE Dawson, Chief of Police Donovan,
all the police force and two deputy
sheriffs. When they arrived at the
IcourthOuse they were met by a mob
of fully / 900 people, headed by Jas.
ILashbrook, the husband of the muir
dered woman, and went Immediately
I'D Second street to the central part
of the city to the hill, followed by Il
mob OF fully 5000 persons. All was
done that was possible by the sheriff
and guard to prevent a lynching. but
i'm the face OF such mob of people,
irrespective of color, it was useless to
attempt 10 do anything. The mob
grabb Coleman, threw a rope over
his head and took him above the
city. Coleman could be heard above
the cries of the mob pleading for his
life
The place of execution had been Sc
| le tied weeks ago, in accord nee with
all the other arranged details of the
program mapped out by the leaders
of the mob. The prisoner was dragg-
ed to sapling and strapped against
the tree, facing the husband of the
victim. Large quantities of dry
brush and large bits of wood We're
piled around him while he was pray
ing for speedy death.
James Lashbrook, the husband of
the victim, applied the first match |
to the brush wood. A brother of |
the victim struck the second match. |
Some with a knife We're vainly slash
ing at the prisoners chest.
BY sort of cruel concurrence of |
action on the part of the mob not q
shot was fired. The purpose seemed |
to be to give the wretch the greatest |
amount and duration of tortue pos
sible. A fatal shot would have been |
mercy; and there was no mercy in |
the crowd surrounding Richard Cole |
man. AS the flames arose his hOr-
rOrs increased. He made vain efforts
to withdraw his limbs from the Ell
croaching fire; his eyes rolled in
frenzy OF suffering. The ropes Sc
curing him to the tree were burned,
and his body finally fell forward on
the burning pile. Even then, al
though it was not certain whether he
was living or dead. the vengeful pur-
pose of the crowd led them to Use
rails and poles to push him back into
the flames. 1t is not certain how
long life lasted
During the process, while his voice
could be heard, he begged for drink
of water, his tongue protruding and
his eyeballs fairly starting from his
head. At the end of three hours the |
body was practically remated. Dur
ing all that time members of the
family of Mrs. Lashbrook had re-
manned to keep up the fire and to
keep the body in position where it
would continue to burn. At that
time nephew of Mrs. LashbroOk
was pushing the body on the burn
ing embers. while curious crowd of
several thousand persons still linger-
FL on the scene.
1t is said that on the march
through the city the prisoners eyes
had been burned out by acid thrown
in an egg shell.
In all the thousands who cOnsti-
tuted the mob there was not a single
,ffOrt to disguise or conceal identity.
No man wore a mask. All the lead
IT'S of the mob are well known. and
here are hundreds of witnesses who
AN testify to their part in the trag-
,dy. They are leading citizens in all
ines of business and many are mem
)ers of the church
County Judge Hurbeson will en- !
panel a special grand jury at once to q
make a speedy investigation and re-
'urn indictments against the leaders i,
Of the mob. The statement from G
Frank Gort that the governor pro-
poses to offer reward for the ap-
OF members of the mob I
does not excite much fear that the ,,
reward will w claimed. While there {
is wide difference of opinion among
residents of the city who were not |,
with the mob, yet there is
a strong feeling that no punishment !
will result from this tragedy. II
DECLARES HE WILL PROSECUTE MOB.
Gov. Bradley, who has only five