The age-herald., 1901-06-08
While Defending Life of Negro Murderer CarroIROn Man
 Fires Upon LyncheTs
STATE MILITIA CALLED OUT
Negro Had Murdered Boy and Was Sentenced To Be Hung Yester- day-Attorneys Make an Ap-
 peaI-carried to Atlanta.

Carrollton, Ga, June S.-The nerve of an obscure Georgia sheriff. whose name Is Jos Merrill. today upheld the law of the State and saved the life of negro from mob. In protecting the negro who
 was saved from the gallows only few
 hours before through the efforts of his
 lawyer one life was lost and two men
 were wounded. The arrival of the State militia averted threatened trouble to-
 night, and at o'clock a special train
 bringing the negro, whose crime was the murder of little white boy, whom he found fishing alone, and his guard. was speeding towards Atlanta. The man who
 was killed in attacking the jail was Geo. Bonnet of Carrollton, and the wounded men are Thomas Smith, also of carrollton and an unknown man, presumably farm CT. Thomas s. Word. father of the mur- dered boy, who was in the front rank of the would-be lynchers, was, strange to say, unhurt After Bennett fell, MT. Word jumped upon the window and ex- claimed dramatically: Shoot me, MT. Sheriff. I would as soon die now as any time."
 Only nine shots were fired and the walls of the jail show the marks of the bullets. None of the sheriff's posse was hit.
 Williams, the negro, who caused the trouble. was tried and found guilty of murdering Otis Word on January 1, this year, and sentenced to be hung today. be- ing refused new trial by Judge Harris this morning.
 His attorneys Reese, Smith and Boy kin, filed a bill of exceptions and car ried the case to the Supreme Court. l A large crowd of people had come to town to witness the hanging and when it
 was learned that an appeal had been
 taken to the Supreme Court, delaying the l execution, there was much talk. which | crystalized soon after in the formation | of a mob.
 | At noon the mob made an assault on | the jail They battered down the outside iron door despite the warning of the sheriff and entered the building. They
 made demand on the sheriff for the key to the negro's cell, but were refused
 With the refusal they began their ad-
 vance upon the sheriff and the few dep
 uties which he had been able to summon to his aid. They were told to stop or they would be fired on, but the order was
 not obeyed. As they advanced down the
 corridor toward the sheriff the order was
 given to fire Bennett fell dying almost instantly.
 The unexpected fight of the sheriff and
 his posse frightened the mob, and they
 retreated outside the jail. Here they broke and ran. and were soon divided into little groups discussing the event. Sheriff Merrill at once consulted Judge Harris of the County Court, and 1t was decided to call upon Governor Chandler for aid The Governor was communicated with by telephone and said he would send two companies from Atlanta as soon as they could be assembled.
 During the afternoon the mob te1ephon-
 ed the situation to friends in the adjoin- ing towns and made an appeal for more men to effect the capture of the negro This was communicated also to Governor Candler and the Governor soon wired a proclamation to the people of the county It was read from the steps of court house at o'clock by the Mayor The Governor commanded the people to dis perse, and said the entire military and civil forces of the state would be used to enforce order if necessary. The read ing of the proclamation apparently had good effect, as many people were seen to mount their horses and leave the town.
 Much apprehension was felt for the night, and the sheriff and city and county
 officials. after consultation. decided to take the prisoner out of the county for safe keeping. The Atlanta militia, under command of Major Barker, arrived about 6 o'clock and one hour later escorted the negro and sheriff to the train which was soon speeding southward for Atlanta.