The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1900-03-31
THE LYNCHING OF WILL ED
WARDS. ALIAS WING SMITH.

DurR ChTrlou away III CnaISo ".
=lMr. j. M. Chiffon. brother o.
:. sheriff Chiffon of Issaquena coun'
ty, the negro Will Edward, alias
Wing Smith who killed Mr.. Bee
johnson in Issaquena county few
q days before but since his capture
}. Sunday morning by conductor
l. White has been confined in Wash
70 ington county Jail. On the same
: train as passengers were Mr.. Chas.
Johnson q brother and George
johnson half brother of the de-
ceased. 1t is said that the negro
was being carried to Vicksburg
for safe keeping. When the train
reached Deer Creek it was sudden
ly stopped and some one on board
yelled out Leland, the passengers
started towards the door but all
soon realized it was not the sta
ton, and that armed men had con-
troll of the train. 1t is said that
: q blanket or sack was thrown over
Mr.. Chiffon head and his arms
pinned by stronger ones SO he
icould not use his own weapon.
The negro was carried off the train
by other member of the party and
the engineer was ordered to move
which was done but by the time it
reached Leland the form of a man
suspended from the trustle could
plainly be seen in the moonlight
while the mob that had revenged
the death of Bee johnson had dis
appeared. Mr.. George johnson
| in conversation about the lynch
| ing told us he himself was struck |
by one of the crowd and ordered |
back in the car. He claimed he
he wanted the law to do the work
which the mob executed.
Monday morning preceding the
night of the hanging we visited
the negro at the jail. He was
confined IN one of upstairs cells
and owing to q bullet hole in his
good leg he was lying stretched
out on a floor bed. There was
stubborness, but not savage ex-
preston in his face and looked to
be about five feet ten inches tall,
weight $50 pounds.
When ] spoke to him in regards
to the killing of Mr.. johnson he
claimed he did it in self defense.
But how could that be, said l
when you shot first.
! don't know Sir, he replied
Well, said l, was Mr.. johnson a
mean man or good man to you and
the the hands!
He was a good man. '
Well then, why did you kill {
him?
Because to save my life. t
He told me that after shooting s
Mr.. johnson he hid in a GIN house S
and was there when the officers :
searched it and at one time he said t
hey were so close to me that l t.
started to give up, He left the u
gin house in the night, walked 10 y
niles to the railroad and got ON a a
'relght and was making for Mem t,
)his when he was shot and caught h
W conductor White at Leland and y
to this city Sunday by v
Marshall Crawford and landed in b
all. h
As we started to leave he called :,
nd asked if we thought he would ii
ret trial and justice. We told him b
We supposed he would. While we al
aust confess that the deed of this r. r.
rute justifies the end, still we be- a a.
leve the law in this case had it been in
ppealed to would have meted out m
be same punishment as he receiv- VI
d at the hands of the mob. AS to m
is chance of escape with only one ia
eg and a bullet hole through 1t, be- g.
ind the bars of steel cell, in p
ne of the strongest jails in the re re
tate he virtually had none. IN
gain in this jail, with as brave a tie
lller as Jack Casey, no mob could 81 81
ave taken him out, so consequent "
7 he was as safe there from lynch
lg as in the Vicksburg jail and
le move on the part of the Issa- tel
uena officers at the time was as 70
as since been proved a injudici- 'n'
us one. Understand us here ].
lere is no sympathy in our heart So
,r the one handed, one legged. III III
nall pox, heartless, black brute, i fSI
no took the life of as noble young GU
man as Bee johnson. Nor with 20
ut all the facts, have we any desire q,
, censure the officers who had Of
i'm in charge and allowed the mob XII
, take him away, still the deep re- -.
pect we have for the constitution, th'
W and the wishes of the chief ex- a aa
;utlve of state who halls from sui
lis county, and whose inaugural tin
< preston of same we like many ca ca
hers deeply deplore this open St.
olation Of law and order and 4 9
ust that It will awaken our peo- he
9 to the fact that their laws rig
ust not be defied however great the
lie provOcation. de de,