The age-herald., 1901-01-16
NEGRO BURNED
 AT THE STAKE
(Contlnued From First Page.)

The roar ceased and Alexander was showed forward for the crowd to gaze at. howl went up which was quickly hushed as the prisoner raised his shackled hands and began to speak, Twice he started and the crowd drowned his trembling voice.
 "You've Got the Wrong Man."
 "You are going to kill me, whatever I may" he said, but you men are wrong. want to tell you right now you've got the wrong man. I did not do that, and some day you will run up against the man who did it. I know it aint any use to say 50, for you're going to kill me, but I did not do 1t ''
 The men standing behind showed him from the wagon and the roar from the crowd drowned every other sound. The negro was quickly driven down the em- bankment to the pile of wood with his hands shackled and there bound to the stake. Long before the wagon containing the doomed man arrived at the place d crowd had gathered. Many carried rails and boards. Several seized railroad rails and carried them to the ravine.
 The first thing done was to plant the rail- road iron upright in the mud This was made fast to cross irons firmly bound to the upright iron with wire. Around the stake wood and boards were piled. To this the man was dragged and chained in @ standing position to the upright railroad iron. Chains and irons were wrapped about him, and,
 
 poured over him and the match applied.
 Father of Murdered Girl.
 Before the match was applied John Forbes, the father of Pearl Forbes, stepped up to Alexander and said: Are you guilty of murdering my daughter?'
 q don't know what you have me here for" said the doomed man.
 Forbes repled: For killing my girl on this very spot"
 MT. Forbes, if that's your name, you have the wrong man."
 Burn him, burn him." cried the crowd.
 Gentlemen, you've got lots of time, said Alexander You're burning an innocent man You took advantage of me. You gave me no show Can I see my mother?
 A man in the crowd called for the mother, but she was not in the crowd. He then said: will you let me shake hands with all my friends?"
 You have no friends in this crowd, you charge of the negro.
 ..If you have anything to say, do so in g hurry
 Another man then stepped up and said to Alexander: Make your peace with your God, nigger, for you will surely die.'
 The Match is Lighted.
 Coal oil was then applied for the second time, and while it was being done Alexan- der called to friends in the crowd and told them goodbye. He did not seem to reallZe that he was to be burned at the stake, and talked rationally until John Forbes, father of the murdered girl, lighted the match Again Alexander was asked to make con- fession, but he replied that he had noth- ing to say. As the flames leaped about him Alexander turned ghastly pale. He clasped his hands together and began to swing to and fro, while the crowd yelled. In less than five minutes he was hanging limp and lifeless by the chains that bound him. AS soon as the crowd saw that life was ex- tinct it began slowly to disperse. There were hundreds of the morbid, however, who stayed.
 Men kept piling on wood all the time urf til about ' o'clock, when the flames were allowed to die down. From to there was a continuous stream of people going to the scene of the burning. There were persons who had been unable to get away from their work, but were determined not to miss seeing the awful spectacle.
 When the fire had died down sufficiently to allow the crowd to approach what re- mained of the negro there was wild scramble to obtain relies bits Of charred flesh pieces of chain, scraps of wood-ev- erything that could possibly serve as souvenir was seized with morbid eagerness.
 Alexandcr's Crime.
 Fred Alexander was arrested for attempt. ing to assault Miss Eva Roth on Saturday night last, and he was charged with the as salslt and murder, November 8, of Pear Forbes.
 Miss Roth was employed as saamstrAaa