Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-08-08
RAP|ST BURNED
At STAKE IN ALABAMA.
oUTRAGEousLY ASSAULTED WIFE
OF A PROMINENT FARMER
IN HER GARDEN.
WAS CAPTURED IN A SWAMP
AND TAKEN BEFORE HIS VICTIM.
WHO IDENTIFIED HIM-CON-
FESSED AND BEGGED
FOR MERCY.

ENAd-s nus ~
agonizing screams and his eyes bullying
from his head. John Wesley Penning-
ton, a negro. was burned at the stake
near Enterprise. Ala. before a crowd
Of five hundred enraged and deter
mined citizens OF Coffee county this
morning.
The mob was composed of both white
and black men. and though the suffer
ing man pleaded for mercy and franti-
cally endeavored to break the chains
that tightly bound him. not a trace OF
sympathy was shown on the faces that
peered at him through the flames.
Pennington had committed a brutal
assault upon Mrs, J. C. Davis, wife of
I'M of the most prominent farmers of
Coffee county. and had confessed his
guilt.
The crime was committed on Tuesday
afternoon while Mrs. Davis was gath
ering vegetables In her garden. Pen
nington choked the woman into insen-
sibility. accomplished his intention and
fled through the woods nearby.
As soon as she regained her senses,
Mrs. Davis crawled to the house and
told her husband what had happen
ed.
A large posse was quickly organized
with ~bloodhounds and they chased the
negro until early this morning, when
he was captured in a swamp.
He was bound hand and foot and ia
ken to the Davis home for identifica-
ton.
News of the assault on Mrs. Davis
had been spread for miles around En-
terprise and every farmer in the neigh
borhood had Joined in the pursuit.
When the posse arrived this morning
with Pennington, at least five hun
dred persons were gathered neal the
Davis residence. A great shout went
up when the prisoner appeared, but at
a signal. the men withdrew to the
woods and quietly awaited the result of
the meeting Of Pennington and Mrs.
Davis.
Mrs. Davis recognized him as her as
sailant and the negro broke down and
wept.
He admitted having committed the
assault and pleaded for mercy, but he
was dragged from the house to the
woods where the crowd had gathered.
Evidently expecting the confession,
several persons had already driven an
iron pipe in the ground and as the cap
tors approached with Pennington both
whites and blacks were piling brush
around the stake.
the negro saw his doom and with a
scream of terror. fell in a faint.
He was quickly revived and dragged
to the stake, while the crowd stood 81
iently by. The frightened mar was
limp and had to be held up while the
were fastened around his neck
and body. A match was applied to the
pile and with oil to feed upon, the tiny
flame soon burst into a roaring fire.
The terrified negro again appealed
for mercy in the most agonizing tones
and prayed to God that those around
him might perish. He then called up
on his Maker for forgiveness, and as
the flames leaped up and encircled his
neck, an unearthly Shrek was heard
and the mans eyes almost bulged out
of their sockets.
BY this time the nre had gained such
Roadway that nothing could be seen ex-
'cept a wriggling motion in the circle Of
fire.
A silence followed and in a few min
utes the flames had subsidized enough to
show that Bennington's head had fall
en- forward and hung limp over the
iron chain. His body was quickly con
and nothing remained but a pile
of ashes.
The crowd then quietly dispersed.