Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1900-08-23

fhoritfes shed blood. Louis Peck. a
coIored man, was put in Jail on the
charge of criminally assulting the little
daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Theodore
Mans The report that be had con
fessed spread rapidly and mob gath
cred. Not believing the statement CT
the sheriff that Peck had been sent out
OF the city. the crowd sent committees
through the city prison and county jail
TO search. This proving fruitless. the
mob gathered In front of the city pris-
on. where the mayor tried to induce
them to disperse Someone fired shot
at the prison. Other shots followed.
and for a few moments there were
terrible scenes. Two persons are dead
from bullets and several badly wound.
ed,at least one of the latter fatally. The
mob WIS still bent on mischief, and
sacked gun store and set fire to
Columbia hall, next to the city build
ing.
A large crowd gathered about the
city prison and forced in the door.
The prison was soon packed with the
mob, and the officers offered no re-
sistance as Peck had been quietly tax
en- away to Cleveland To satisfy the
mob the officers suggested chat COM
mittee of six be appointed to search
all the cells and go through every part
of the building This was do1e and
as the negro was not found yell was
made, Now for the county jail. Give
us the Niger, aud we will deal with
him" mad rush followed for the
Jail, and soon the Jail was in the hands
of the mob. After going through the
private apartments of the Jail the
crowd started to batter down the big
iron doors Deputy Sheriff Stone
stood in front of the prison doors and
made speech He informed the
crowd that Peck could not be found in
there and he told the people in the
mob to select committee and he
would allow the committee to search
the jail FROM top to bottom A COM
mittee was quickly selected and the
Jail was searched, every cell being
examined. Satisfied that the negro
was not there, the mob then rushed
across the street and forced open the
doors of the county courthouse. The
old courthouse was soon packed and
all rooms searched except the rooms
in the treasury department. a start
was made to tear off the iron doors OF
the treasury department, but the mob
decided not to tackle the job, and then
the thousands of men and boys rushed
back to the city prison crying for the
blood of Peck.
The city prison was again surround
ed, and hundreds of people forced
their way into the prison for the sec
ond time, insisting that Peck was
there Mayor w. e. Young, at this
time. appered at one of the windows
in the upper part of the building. He
addressed the mob as best he could,
saying that Peck had been taken out
of the prison by Sheriff Kelly and
driven out Of the city in closed car
riage. The people in the mob would
not believe the mayor and continued
to yell and demand that Peek be sur
rendered Later the mob began for a
third time to attack the city prison
Someone in the crowd began shooting
at the building. This was followed by
several more shots. The officers in the
building appeared at the windows and
began to shoot over the heads of the
people \ man with shotgun then
fired at the officers The crowd then
began to smash in the windows of the
city building and the firing became
general Hundreds of shots were eX-
changed and a boy was carried dead
from the street. 1t is certain that doz-
ems of men were wounded. A report
was received from the city building
that one of the officers had both legs
broken and that another was badly
wounded.
Mayor Young was in the building
and directed call for the militia. All
the ambulances of the city were called
out. and the excitement became in
tense. The front of the city building
was total wreck, and the fire bells
We're ringing.
Prison Keeper John e. Washer came
from the city building and he was
knocked down by a brick. He was
badly injured about the head and
had to receive medical attendance.
OIlcef JO1u l'uuN df1eSleu Il Soioitu
man. who confessed to Prison Keeper
Washer of having attempted to as
sault Christina, the 6-yearold daugh-
ter of Mr.. and Mrs. Theodore Mas,
industrious and respectable people who
live on Perkins Hill. The colored
man, Monday night, offered to give
the child ride in his buggy. Chris
tina accepted the invitation, and few
hours later she was found on the side
of road west of the city. The pris-
oner has given his name as Louis
Peck, He is about 40 years old, mar
ried and recently moved here. The
story of the confession spread like
wildfire through the city, and officers
learned that an attempt would be
made last night to lynch him. Peck was
badly frightened. Officers had been
searching for him since Monday night,
and he was arrested at the union de-
not as he SteDDed from n Baltimore