The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-01-25
MOB HANGS TWO MEN
Murderers of Farmer Are Lynched
at Fort Scott, Kan.

Fort Scott, KAN, Jan. 22.-GeorSe
Silbee and Ed Meeks, half-brothers, who
were convicted of murder here early in
the week, were lynched by mob in the
county Jail yard here Saturday night.
The two men, who hailed from Kansas
City, had been convicted of murder in
the first degree, their victim being a
young German farmer named Leopold
Edlinger, whose murder occurred near
this city in October last. The murder
ers disposed of Edlinger's pair of mules,
one horse and wagon in Bates county.
Amos Phillips, an accomplish of the two
brothers crime, was convicted Friday
of murder in the first degree. The evil
dence showed that the three men be-
longed to a gang of thieves who had
been regularly disposing of their plum
der in Cedar county, Mo.
The lynching was the work of mob
that began gathering in the vicinity of
the county Jail soon after dark, but the
purpose of the assembling crowds
seems not to have been suspected until
the Jail was attacked. A barb wire
trocha that had been previously built
around the Jail was borne down, the
heavy doors leading to the prison were
battered in, and when the mob came
bowling out of the Jail with its intend
ed victims the interior of the place
looked as if it had been wrecked by
dynamite.
Defiant to the Last.
George Silbee, the older of the two
brothers, defied his captors until the
last. He placed the moose around his
own neck and died cursing the crowd.
Just as he was jerked into eternity he
turned to his brother with an oath and
commanded him to "die game" The
brother obeyed, maintaining an out
ward calm until he was jerked into the
air. Before this Silbee had shouted to
the mob in defiant tones that he himself
shot Edlinger and that Amos Phillips
struck him on the head with an AK. He
insisted that his brother Ed did not
participate in the crime. ''Be sure and
get Phillips" the doomed man urged.
Then, shouting to his tormentors, he
babe them, with a curse, to string
him up.
The lenience manifested toward the
accomplish Phillips was probably due
to the fact that Phillips, soon after his
arrest, made full confession of the
crime, though when he was put upon
trial he repudiated this earlier confess
sion.
Ed Meeks was equally fearless in the
hands of the mob, but he did not mani
fest the spirit of bravado shown by his
brother. His last words were: Hang
me if you will, but 1 did not help kill
Edlinger. George shot him and Phil
lips struck him with an AK. / did"
The doomed man got no farther in his
statement, for four or five men had him
by the feet, others drew the moose
around his neck, throwing the loose end
over limb, and in a moment he was
strangling to death.
Couldn't Find Him.
When finally satisfied with their ven.
geance upon the two brothers the lead
ers of the mob went back to the jail in
search of old man Phillips. In the
meantime the Jail keepers had secreted
him in room in the rear of the struc-
ture, and when the lynchers came back
they were told that Phillips had been
hurried away. After brief search the
lynchers seemed satisfied with this ex-
PLANTATION and left the scene, thus spar
ing the life of the third murderer. Phil
lips will probably be taken out of the
city. There is some question as to the
old mans sanity.
Attacked Deputy Sheriff.
The direct cause of the lynching was
vicious attack by Silbee and Meeks
upon Deputy Sheriff Behmer, when the
latter went to their cell Saturday night
to inspect the cage. Behmer then dis
covered that the convicts had sawed the
hinges of the cell door all but off. He
entered the cage to remove the prison
ers into another cell, and as he did so
was felled by Silbee with an iron bar
which the prisoners had secreted. Other
deputies came to Behmer's rescue, and
in the scrimmage fred several shots
at the convicts. One bullet took effect
in Silbee's leg. This shooting attract
ed a crowd, wild stories of the assault
were soon in circulation among the
crowd which gathered around the Jail,
and it only required the few leaders
who came later to incite the gathering
to violence. After the assault upon
Deputy Behmer, Silbee and Meeks were
shackled, and the irons were still upon
them as they were swung to their death.
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