Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1900-07-26
BLACK VICTIM OF MOB Law.
Elijah Clark. n Negro Charged with a Henl-
GUS Crime, Lynched - Runts-
Vile, Ala.

Elijah Clark. q Negro Charged with q Hsni-
GUS Crime, Lynched - Hunts
Vile, Ala.
Huntsville, Ala, July 24.-Elijah
Clark, a l.egro who, Sunday, assaulted
Susan Priest, a ~13-year-old girl. was
taken from the Jail in this city last
night and lynched near the spot where
his crime was committed. His body
was riddled with bullets. Sheriff Full
CHAM defended his prisoner to the last,
but dense smoke from a combination
of tar, feathers ana oil fred by the
crazed mob, was too much for him
Dangerously Shot.
William yining, who attempted to
rush through the crowd and up the
iail steps, was shot and dangerously
wounded.
The Fugitive Landed i'm Jail.
A crowd of $50 men, principally en-
| ployes of the cotton mills at Dallas, u
suburb of this city, searched the woods
all Sunday night for Clark, who was
| identified at the time he assaulted Miss
Priest by her sister. No success at
| tended their efforts, and early yester-
day morning Sheriff Fulgham started
out with a posse, and before nine
| o'clock had captured Clark on Beaver
Dam creek, ten miles from Huntsville.
| lie was soon landed in Jail, and by one
| O'Clock the news of the prisoners cap
tn c was abroad
ShcriH's Efforts to Save the Prisoner.
A mob was soon formed and marched
to the Jail. Sheriff Fulgham, seeing
that he had a desperate crowd to COM
bat. wired Gov. Johnston the facts in
the case. The governor responded to
the effect that he had ordered h
militia at Birmingham, Montgomery
and Decatur to proceed with all haste
to the scene.
The sheriff then telephoned Judge
S. II. Stewart and asked for an imme-
date trial of the negro, and the judge
replied soon after hat he had ar
ranged for a special session of court at
three o'clock yesterday afternoon, be-
fore Judge H. S. Speake.
The mob by this time had assumed
alarming proportions, and the sheriff,
thinking to quiet it, appeared at a
window and announced hat a special
trial had been arranged for the pris-
oner for 3 p. ~. This was greeted with
itcrs by the crowd, and the cry Re
senge" went up.
A Woman,s Plea for Law.
The outer door to the Jail, a wooden
barrier, was hen attacked, and soon
battered down, the mob gaining en-
trance to the first floor. Here they en-
rountered the sheriff's wife, who plead
ed with them to refrain from violence
and let the law take its course.
Reiterated to the Third Floor.
Sheriff Fulgham, however. on hear
ing the door being forced, retreated
with his prisoner to the third floor,
where he locked himself in with Clark.
The mob then stopped to devise ways
aud means of securing the prisoner
without doing him harm.
The Mob Chose Strategy.
4 dozen times the sheriff, as he ap-
paared at the window waving his
hands to the mob to go away, could
have beer shot, but the lynchers
chose strategy as the most effective
way out of the difficulty. A large
amount of tar, feathers and oil was
secured and piled up on the cement
floor of the Jail, and a match applied.
A suffocating smoke arose and spread
quickly throughout the Jail.
Sheriff Almost Suffocated.
The sheriff again retreated to the
corner farthest from the burning
pile. taking his prisoner with him.
More tar and feathers were brought in
and ignited. The sheriff was seen 10
disappear from the window, and when
lie did not reappear, Chief-of-Police
Overton broke through the crowd and
ran up the stairs through the bliad-
ing and suffocating smoke. Reaching
tile third floor he found Sheriff Fu!-
CHAM in a semi-conscious condition.
Rescued from Certain Death.
The chief dragged the h~alf-conscious
man down the two flights of stairs
;nto the street. He was quickly taken
10 the city hall, and doctors sum
moned.
Mob Took Possession of Jail.
The sherif's departure was the sig
nal for the mob to proceed with its
work, and it quickly took possession
OF the Jail. Fully an hour was con
surned in breaking the lock to the eel!
in which the negro was confined, but
as soon as this was accomplished, two
2len secured Clark and quickly ap-
peared with him on the front steps of
the Jail
Prisoner Dragged Out.
a rope was placed around his nccl;
and, guarded by 20 he~avily-armed men.
he was dragged out of the Jail yard.
Down Clinton street, jeering, the mob
:ed the victim, followed by fully if
teen hundred people.
Clark was hustled quickly to Dallas
and then to the home of his victim.
Here he was taken before his victim
and positively identified. Clark col
lapsed, and had to be borne on the
shoulders of his captors to Moore's
grove, where the rope round his nec!;
was thrown over the limb of q tree
by Miss Priests brother. The negro
was placed across the back of a hor%s
which was led out from beneath hir,.
The body fell, and as it dangled in tlla
air a hundred bullets was fired into il.
Just as the work was finished the ill-
%rnilitia arrivad NJ H,,n4cx;tE.