Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1901-01-24
TORTURE N KANSAS
A Negro Murderer Burned at.
the Stake.
HORRIBLE FATE OF FRED ALEXANDER
Suspected Slayer Of Pearl Forbes Was Taken
From Jail by . Leavenworth Mob.
Chained to . Rail and Cremated.

LeavenwOrth, Kan, Jan. l7.-Fred
Alexander, the murderer Of Pearl
Forbes and the fiend who attempted to
ciiminally assault Miss Eva Roth last
Saturday night. su, rounded bv a Yell
ing mob, his clothes torn, his face
bloody with his own blood, was
dragged from his cell in the court
house, pleading for his life, and, after
being dragged around the court house
yard for Is minutes, was loaded into
a wagon with his captors and taken to
the place where Miss Forbes body was
found. to be burned to death.
''Burn him; hang him; no, burn
him." re.echoed through the air, and
each moment the uncontrolled passions
Of the mob became wilder.
The negro was taken from his cell at
the state penitentiary at this after.
noon and loaded into hack and
brought to town. ~ deputy marsha Is
surrounding him. Deputy Sheriffs
Vance Myers and Tom Brown sat in
the hack on either side of him. There
were 50 buggies and wagons in the pro.
cession which followed the hack, and
it was an awful march indeed for Fred
Alexander. The trip to town was
made quickly, and there was no at.
tempt to create disturbance.
When Fourth and Olive streets were
reached the police, who were in the
hack following the one in which Alex.
ander was concealed, jumped out and
chased several negroes. This created
a diversion, which attracted the at.
tention Of every one, and. in the OK.
element, the hack in which Alexander
was concealed, was frantically driven
to the county Jail, and just as the mob
reached the doors. he was locked in
the first cell ON the east side of the
court house.
In the meantime the crowd had
rushed down the side gate Of the stock.
AIDE and in moment there was yell.
ing pack in the Jail yard. The side
door. which was made of heavy sheet
iron, was the next object Of attack.
Several of the thoughtful ones Of the
mob had provided themselves with
sledge hammers and cold chisels, and
is was the work OF only fcw moments
before tho hinges were cut from this
and, with the help from inside, it was
of its hinges in moment. More men
pushed inside, and the iron bar was
again called into play, and the doors
Of the cell room broken down. A man
with sharp eyes spied q shapeless,
cringing mass crouched down in one
corner Of the dark cell. The mob
issued in q moment. dragging the tiend
by the coat collar.
At q quarter past o'clock Alexand.
er was brought to the scene of the
murder of Pearl Forbes. The exact
spot where the murdered girl was
found was located by the leaders Of the
crowd. Alexander was brought up in
u wagon with dozen men.
The first thing done was to plant
railroad iron upright in the mud. This
was made fast to cross irons firmly
bound to the upri ght iron with wires.
To this the man was dragged and
chained to the upright railroad iron.
Chains and irons we're wrapped about
him, with his hands still shackled fast
over him and the match touched to
him.
While it was being done, Alexander
called to friends of his in the crowd
and babe them goodbye. He did not
seem to realize that he was to be
burned ut the stake. Alexander was
asked to make confession. but de.
clared himself innocent. As the
flames leaped about him Alexander
turned CHASTITY pale. and then for the
first time realized that his death was
near. In less than five minutes he was
hanging limp and lifeless by the chains
that bound him.
IA soon az the crowd saw that life
was extinct, it began to slowly dis.
pnrse. There were hundreds how.
ever. Of the more morbid. who stayed
to the last. Men kept piling on wood
all the time until about Z O'Clock.
when the flames were allowed to die
down. As soon al the flames had died
down sufficiently to allow the crowd
to approach there was wild scramble
to obtain relics.