The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-29
ON ATELEGRAPH POLE
NEGRO RAyIsHER's BODY, BULLET
RIDDLED, SWINGS NEAR Penn
BROKE.
VENGEANCE SWIFT AND SURE.
brutal AssAILANT OF MRS. JOHN
SMITH DIED AT HANDS OF HER
AVENGERS.

He Had Found Shelter in the
House of Wesley Herring, He
spend n Night of Fearful Agony
where He FeII-Letter to Para
mour Revealed His Hiding Place.
Shot In Attempt to Escape-Carried
Back to Scene of the Crime, He
Paid With His Life the Certain
Penalty of His CriIne-ThOusands
viewed His Corpse.
Hanging from the arm of tele-
graph pole, within a few hundred
yards of the scene of his lustful crime,
the bulIet-riddled body of John Wise,
the negro raVisher of Mrs. John Smith,
swings inertly pendulous, an awful and
ghastly example of the swift justice
melted out for the violated honor Of
woman.
Captured at Pooler in the negro cot
tage in which he thought he had found
a haven of refuge, shot and mortally
wounded as he attempted to escape,
suffered to lie in his blood where he
fell through the long hours of a night
and then, when morning dawned to be
taken to the home of his victim, to
meet death at the end of a dangling
rope-thus may be epitomized the fate
of Wise.
The crime of which Mrs. Smith was
the victim stirred to white heat the
fury of the men of Bryan county, in
all the section surrounding Tutens
Mills, where Mrs. Smith lived and
where the crime was committed. Mrs.
Smith, though still only half-con-
scious, identified Wise as her assail-
ant the day following the crimes COM
mission, when he was brought into
her presence. In her weakened and
distressed condition, however her
Identification was not as positive as
il might have been, and Wise, given
a qualified liberty. had promptly en-
braced the opportunity to make his
escape
A mob gathered that night and an
effort was made to follow the trail of
the fugitive through the swamp into
which he had disappeared-but the eff
fort was futile and without result.
Determined Wise Must Die.
Its unsuccess served only to accen-
tuate the determination of the men of
all that section of country that Wise
must be caught and made to pay,
without the Intervention of judge or
jury, the penalty of his crime. There
was no loss of energy or purpose and
though no mob gathered individuals
and little groups of men still followed
every hopeful clue with undated per-
tinacity and constantly increasing
fury.
a clue the Morning News outlined
the day following the escape of the
ravisher gave the first inkling of his
hiding place and resolutely followed
resulted in his arrest.
A woman, Martha Bass, living at
Daisy, had been Wise's paramount and
it was believed he would attempt in
some manner to open communication
with her. Her mail was
watched and a letter bearing
the Pooler postmark gave the
information that was needed. 1t had
been written from the home of Wes-
ley Herring, at Pocler. where Wise had
gone red-handed from his crime, and
where since Friday night he had re-
ceived shelter and protection.
Nine determined men carried out the
well laid plot to effect his arrest. Five
or them. DR.. Miller, DR.. Ellerbee. W.
A. L. Clements. William Whidden and
John Durrance, had come from Daisy
while the four others were citizens of
Pooler. The letter besought the woman
to come al once to Wise's place of hid
ing and when she got off the train at
Pooler Sunday night the nine were
there in waiting to receive her. She
was detained at the station, while the
members of the posse took UP the
march to the home of Herring. Ar
rived there the house was quickly sur
rounded.
The Arrest in the Night.
A summons to open the door was an
swered by Wesley Herring and his two
sons, who gave surly denial to the
posses charge that Wise was con-
cealed within. The charge was repeat
ed and again Herring answered it in
the negative.
His denials had no weight with the
members of the party. In few words he
was told he was lying and that he
must submit his house to a thorough
search. Insolent to the last, he was
still repeating his assurances that
Wise had not been seen, when the raw
Usher broke from a rear door of the
dwelling and at top speed started to-
ward the surrounding woods.
A member of the posse was at the
negro's elbow as the door was flung
open and calls to halt the rapid fire
of his Winchester gave the alarm.
From every side of the house the aven-
gers came running and hail of lead
followed the fleeing desperate. Twice
or thrice he was struck by bullets from
the rifles, but it was not until a dou-
BILE charge of buckshot struck him in
the back that he fell, MORALLY wound
ed. to the ground.
There he was left for the night, his
hands clawing the soft turf, his means
piercing the night, his life blood flow
ing with every passing minute that, to
him q seeming eternity, dragged its
length along. He was conscious and
suffering dreadful agony, but no pity
for him who had snown none animated