Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-12-26
QUICK RETRIBUTION.
Overtakes Two Negro Murderer
in Indiana.
HANGED BY An INFURIATED MOB
The Negroes Had Waylaid. Murdered
and Robbed n White Barber. A
Witness OF the Crime and
Lynching Goes Insane.

Two negroes, Jim Henderson and
Bud Rowlands, who iaylaid, brutally
murdered and robbed Holie Simons,
. whine barber early this morning,
we're iynched in the Jail yard by q
mob of 900 frenzied citizens tonight.
The negroes were arrested early, and,
although RowGands clio. hing had
blood stains ON 1T, the men claimed
Ehey were innocent of the crime. In
thu meantime Sheriff Clemens OF
Union county, Kentucky, arrived
with o. trtained bloodhound In re-
0ponse 10 'telegraphic summons.
When the dog was placed on the
traGl he followed IT until he reached
the house where Rowlands lived, six
blocks from the scene of the murder,
and went baying TO 1.-The bed the negro
had occupied. This was enough for
the excited citizens. Within IA few
moments a mob of one Thousand
bowling, bloodthirsty citizens, with
Aledge hammers, ropes and guns, were
summing to the Jail.
Sheriff Anderson and his two depu-
Ues made stand and attempted to
protect the prisoners. The officers
were seized by the leaders of the mob
who disarmed them. The sheriff was
then locked i'm a room and placed un-
der GUARD, but he stoutly refused to
give UP the keys or tell where the
prisoners were hidden.
Failing to get the keys, the mob
made a determined but unsuccessful
alttempt Ito break in the jail door. By
this time the wOuld-be lynchers were
tn a perfect frenzy, and, securing a
telegraph pole, they used it as a bat
tering ram and caved in the side wall
06 the Jail. The door of Rowlands'
cell wtaLs quickly broken in with
sbedges atnd' he was dragged away
from the jail to the east side OF the
court y,ard, where a moose was placed
about his neck. He was given time to
make a statement, in which he i'm
pGdcalted Jim Henderson and another
negro. ROwlands then begged pit.
eouSly for mercy, but the mob swift
ly swung the confessed murderer TO
. tree and rdddled his body with bud.
hts.
Leaving the body of RowlandD dan
CHING from the limb of the tree, the
mob rushed back to the Jail and at
Aempted to burst open the cell occu
pied by Henderson, but before the
steel baats yielded to the blows of the
aledges some one fired upon THE ter
Mfied nego as he crouched in the cor
ner of his cell. A few moments more
and the door of the cell was broken
In. The negro, more dead than aMve,
WAS dragged alt a ropes end to the
court house yard and swung on the
tree beside the body of Rowlands.
Filming al parting volley at the
swinging bodies, the mob eager for
another victim, hurried away to catch
The other NEGRO implicated by Row.
lands in his confession. He was
found ait "a hotel, where he was en-
Ffoyed aS a porter. The negro es-
oaped to THE roof of the building and
Manager De Bruler succeeded in con-
vtncing the mob THAI the porter had
Aothing ito do with the crime, proving
On nlib for him. The mob then dis
Persef, apparently sa.isfied with its
awful work of vengeance.
The negroes victim, Simons, was
whyhaid and murdered in the most
brutal manner one square from the
main street. of the city, ,aS he was go
ing to his home from his barber shop
1t o'clock this morning. AS was
customary with him, he carried the
Receipbs of the day ait his place Of
business.
The negroes were aware of this and
evidently laid the plans accordingly.
Crpuching behind "a fence. they await
Cd their victim and jumped from their
place of concealmena and attacked
him from behind, striking him over
Nhe head with a heavy club with .
hrge nail driven into Nhe end Of 1t.
Although badly beaten, Simons made
. desperate fight and his cries and
struggles soon sIttracted two boys,
who went to his AS distance, but they
were q moment too late, the victim
ue the two negroes having succumbed
70 the terrible beating, lying dead at
their feet. The murderers then drove
the would-be rescurs away and
accomplished their original design
Ahnk of robbery = securing bag
containing over $40 from the pros
trate form of the victim, and made
chNir eScape. Slmons was terribly
beaten; his skull was crushed in hia
bead and face beaten into a pulp.
-Four gaping wounds showed where
the spike ON the club had punctured
Eha dead mans skull and penetrated
ehe bradn.
Walter Evans, one of the young
men who ATTEMPTED to save SimDns'
Me, and who atterward assisted In
che removing of the dead mans re-
mains ito his home, was greatly af.
footed and almost suffered nervous
collapse. Toniu& be Witnessed thu
lyuching and he is now a raying ma.
MAC.
The dead mans wife is prostraEed.
and 1t .s believed she will die from
the shcck. IIcllie Simons came here
1rOm Winssow, Ind. three years ago,
end was .. POPULAR yeung man.
The feel'Tg against he negroes was
Aptensified Nv 'ttison of the fact thar
Wurnrn T-asS TWO Weeks Ovc1 ..
dozen houses have been robbed in
Rockport, and Henderson and Row
lands were suspected of being the
eoaders in these Tobberies. The mob
announced that in the care of all fu.
sure robbeTies the gut.v persons
would be run down and .yrched. Many
negroes left the Ci.v con .yht. among
Nhem Joe Rol1a. Tl,,Se remaining
...> ....-..A.-e th0mSelvt1 closely IN,
doors. Eight Other Gegr es were ar.
eesbed as suspeos r,,l wou.d have
eaen ly'nrheI had tf-sy not been able
- prove alibis.
1AA mob was very determined.
EAnre wa no demon ~ son except
- Ar1ng OF about twenty shots I'm ,h