Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-17
NEGRO BURNED AT STAKE
COLORADO MOB TAKES HORRIBLE
MEANS OF VENGEANCE.
The Victim Had Murdered a Little Girl
in Peculiarly Brutal
Manner.

| dispatch from Limon. Col, last night
| says: Chained to a railroad rail set firmly
| in the ground on the exact spot where his
| fendish crime was committed Preston
Porter, jr.. or, as he was Familiarity known,
| John Porter, from Lawrence, Kans, this
evening paid terrible penalty for his deed.
| 1t was 6:23 o'clock when the father Of
! the murdered girl touched the match to
| the fuel which had been piled around the
negro, and twenty minutes later a convul-
! sive shudder told that life was extinct.
What agony the doomed boy suffered could
only be guessed from the terrible contor-
! tons of his face and the cries he gave
| from time to time.
The executioners, who numbered about
300 citizens Of Lincoln county, had not the
! least semblance of the ordinary mob. Their
every act was deliberate, and during all the
preparations. we'll as throughout the suf-
ferings of the negro. hardly an unnecessary
word was spoken. Grimly they stood in
circle about the fire until the body was en-
tirely consumed, and then quietly they took
their way back to Lincoln. whence they
departed for their homes shortly afterward.
Preston Porter did not seem to realize
the awful punishment that he was destined
| to undergo. AS he had exhibited indiffer-
| ence to the enormity Of his crime, so he
seemed to lack all understanding Of its
| terrible consequences. For more than an
hour, while preparations for his execution
were in progress, he stood mute and Sullen
| among the avengers.
The train bearing the negro, in custody
of Sheriff Freeman and his deputies, arrived
| in Limon from the county Jail at Denver
at 3:45 pm The cars We're crowded with
newspaper reporters and people who were
| curious to see the negro executed. R. w.
Frost, the murdered girls father, was one
OF the passengers. When the train stopped
| sixteen men. who had been selected by the
vigilance committee, entered the train and
demanded the prisoner from the sheriff.
| Their every action was marked by calm
ness and determination. The officer pro-
tested in the name of the law, and asked
the men to allow him to take his prisoner
| to the county Jail at Hugo, but his protests
were disregarded. One man carried rope,
| one end of which had been formed into
hangman's moose. This slipped over
| the negro's neck. 1t was at first announced
that the negro was to be executed by
hanging. Many. including the father Of
| the negros victim, protested that such a
death would be too easy. and 1t was finally
decided to leave the method of death to
the outraged father. He decided upon
burning at the stake. The train was then
allowed to proceed, and at Bake Station,
about three miles from Ltmon, and near
the scene of the Negroes crime, the party
left the train and began preparations for
the deed of vengeance. Suggestions of mu-
tilation before burning We're made, but Mr..
Frost declared against It,
Wagons were dispatched for wood and
upon their return score of men assisted
in preparing 1t for the fire. When at last
preparations were completed further de-
lay was made because it known many
Were their way from Hugo and other
parts of the. country to take part in the af-
fair 1t had been announced that $50
o'clock should be the hour for starting the
fire. but 1t was nearly an hour later when
the word was finally given.
A dispatch from Denver says: When
asked his opinion regarding the burning of
the negro murderer Governor Thomas de-
clined to make any statement whatever.
Early in the week. in an interview, the
governor was quoted as saying that he had
nothing to do with the matter. Sheriff
Freeman of Lincoln county, after the pris-
oper was taken from him, remained on
the train and presumably went to his home
at Hugo He was strongly opposed to the,
lynching. and only consented to take Por-
ter back to Lmon from Denver under the
strongest pressure from the people of his
county.
The general sentiment expressed in Dem
yer approves the execution OF the negro,
hut deprecates the method adopted.