Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-08-26
MOB BURNS A negro
Henry Noles. Who Killed Mrs.
Chas. Williams. Dies at the
Stake.
Admits His Guilt and Laughs as
His Captors Prepare Funeral
Pyre.
Said He Committed the Crime
Because He Had Nothing Else
to Do.


ed and shot to death Mrs. Charles Will
liams, wife of farmer near here, last
Friday, was captured early Sunday
morning at Water Tank, near Cowan,
Tenn. He was brought to Winchester
by his captors and placed in the county
Jail. Sheriff Stewart made haste to try
to barricade the Jail and protect the
prisoner.
Soon mob of several hundred men
gathered, but Assistant Attorney Cen
eral Matt N. Whitaker appeared and
made a speech to the crowd. He app
pealed to them TO assist him in allaying
excitement and upholding the majesty
of the law. He promised to reconvene
the grand jury today to promptly indict
the negro and have him speedily tried at
crowd that his conviction and legal exc
cution We're foregone conclusion.
This appeal was supplemented by
Jesse NJ. Littleton, Foster Ramsey and
others. No sooner had their appeals
been made than several hundred citi-
crime was committed came up and
augmented the crowd to thousands. They
swept forward upon the Jail, overpow-
cred the sheriff and his deputies, took
the prisoner and started for the scene
of the crime, twelve miles distant, at
1915 a. m.
The mob was orderly, but determined.
1t seemed that the whole population for
a
fate of the negro. A procession three
miles in, length followed the mob to the
Wilson home. Arriving at a point in
sight of the. scene of the crime the negro
was placed upon a stump and given a
chance to make statement. He mount
ed the stump stolidly and laughed as he
began his Statement. He said:
Tell all my sisters and brothers to
meet me in glory. am going to make
that my home. Tell my mother to meet
me where parting will be no more
He was then asked as to whether any
one else was implicated in the crime.
Noles stated emphatically there was no
one implicated but himself.
why did you kill Mrs. Williams?" he
was a sked.
II just done that because had moth
/ ing else to do.
He finished his statement at :35 p.
m. He was taken from the stump, car
ried to a tree near by, bound to the
1 tree with chains, and his body satur-
ated with oil.
At 1:40 p. m. a match was applied
and instantly the quiverng body was
developed in flames. Fence rails We're
piled about the burning body and soon
&C. nh.
cutlery at any time and died like a
stole. There We're no disorderly scenes
about the burning body.
/ At least 5000 people witnessed the
execution of the negro. Many remained
until nightfall, augmenting the blaze
until the body was entirely consumed
4 They then departed for their homes
4 quietly.
Il Lying on the floor of the family room
her face splashed with clotted blood
and the oaken planks stained with the
same drops, Charles Williams found
his devoted young wife Friday after
noon when he returned from marketing
hia wheat in the little town of Max
we'll. A bullet had gone thru her head
life was completely extinct, and hel
two baby children We're crying alou6
their grief and fear
The older boy, aged 3, told what hat
occurred. The young mother had beef
shot and killed by Henry Noles, ne
gro hand upon Williams place. A.
the mortally wounded woman sank IL
the floor Noles shot at the boy, The
bullet grazing the child's head. Their
he fled to the woods.
Williams neighbors were stirred t,
the pitch of exacting merciless ant
summary justice. On receipt of tn,
news of the crime Sheriff Stewart de
! parted for the scene with bloodhounds
A posse of determined citizens, wei
armed and provided with rope, wa
also on Noles' trail.
1t is reported that the motive wa
robbery, and $50 was obtained by tn
murderer Williams is a farmer, wei
to do, and one of the most prominen
residents of his section of FRANKLIN
county. The dead woman was mem
Der of one of the oldest and most re
specteti families in the county. TIL
two children We're the only witnesse
, of the tragedy.
BAD STORM IN EAST.