Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-08-15
BURNED AT THE STAKE.
Citizens of an Ala bama Town Torture
and XIII Negro kaptst.


Birmingham, Ala, Aug. s.-Witf
agoniZing screams and his eyes DulS
ing from his head, John Wesley Pen
nington, negro, was on Wednesday
burned at the stake near Enterprise
Ala, before a crowd of 500 enraged
citizens of Coffee county. The moi
was composed of both whites and
blacks, and though the suffering man
pleaded for mercy and frantically en-
deavored 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
brutal assault upon Mrs. j. T.
Davis, wife of one of the most proml-
nent farmers of Coffee county, and
had confessed his guilt.
The crime was committed Tuesday
afternoon, while Mrs. Davis was
gathering vegetables in her garden.
Pennington choked the woman into
insensibiIity, accomplished his inten-
tion and fled through the woods near
by. AS soon as she regained her
senses, Mrs. Davis crawled to the
house and told her husband what had
happened. A large posse was quick
ly organized with bloodhounds and
they chased the negro until early
Wednesday morning, when he was
captured in a swamp. He was bound
hand and foot and taken to the DAVIS
home for identification.
News of the assault on Mrs. Davis
had spread for miles around Enter
prise and every farmer in the neigh
borhood had Joined in the pursuit.
When the posse arrived with Pen
nington at least 500 persons were
gathered near the Davis residence. a
great shout went up when the pris-
oner appeared, but at a signal the
men withdrew to the woods and quiet
" awaited the result of the meeting
of Pennington and Mrs. Davis.
Mrs. Davis recognized him as her
assailant, and the negro broke down
and wept. He admitted having com
mitted 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 citizens had
already driven an iron pipe in the
ground. and as the captors ap-
DrOacileu Wlln L ItHlllllS toIif bOti
whites and blacks were piling brush
wood around the stake. The negro
saw his doom and with a scream of
terror fell in faint.
He was quickly revived and dragged
to the stake, while the crowd stood
silently by. The frightened man
was limp and had to be held up while
the chains were fastened around his
neck and body. A match was applied
to the pile and with oil to feed upon,
the tiny flame burst into a roaring
fire. The terrified negro again plead
ed for mercy in the most agonizing
terms, and prayed to God that those
around him might perish. He then
called upon God 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 fire had gained
such headway that nothing could be
seen except wriggling motion in the
circle of fire. A silence followed and
in a few minutes the flames had suf-
ficientlv subsidized to show that Pen
nington's head had fallen forward
and hung limp over the iron chain.
His body was quickly consumed and
nothing remained but a pile of
n