Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-05-23
HORRIBLE TORTURE
Of a Se|f-Confessed Negro
RaviSher in Texas,
Tied to Stake and Husband of Woman
Applied the Match.
Mob HowIed for Slower Death and
More Torture.

Long View, TEXTS, May 22.-The cul.
mination of a man hunt which has
been in progress since last Saturday
was reached, today, when Dudley Nor
gan, colored. who assaulted Mrs. Nc
kee, wife of a Texas & Pacific fore
man, at Lansing, Tex, was burned al
the stake near Lansing
1t was learned, this morning, that
the negro had been captured and was
being taken to Lansing for identified
ton, and by IL o'clock great throngs
had gathered at the Lansing switch
and, looking over the ground, decided
to make arrangements to burn the ne
gro. The place of execution decided
upon was an open plot hedged in by
high trees.
The trees We're literally lined with
people an hour before the negro ar
rived. The train was met by a great
crowd of people from surrounding
towns. The prisoner was taken from
the train to the section house and was
positively identified by Mrs. Mckee
and several negroes who worked with
Morgan.
The negro was escorted byS2O0 armed
men to the place of execution. AS he
WIS CIlClneu 10 lDe stake, ne SdlQ ne
desired to make a statement. The
crowd surged around him and those in
charge tried in vain to make them
stand back and keep quiet while the
negro talked. He implicated another
negro named Franklin Heard, saying
he (Heard was to get part of the
money which was to be stolen. Nor
gan confessed to having committed
the crime.
After having been securely tied to
the stake, with his hands and legs free,
the members of the mob began to take
ties from fire already built and burn
out his eyes. They held the burning
timbers to his neck and, after burning
his clothes off, to other parts of the
body.
The negro screamed in agony. He
was tortured in a slow and painful
manner. with the crowd clammoring
continuously for a slower death and
the negro, writhing and grooming, beg
ging pteously to be shot.
Mrs. Mckee was brought to the
scene in a carriage, accompanied by
four other women, and an effort was
made to get the carriage close enough
for her to see the negro. The crowd
was so dense, however. that it was i'm
possible. Persons held each other on
their shoulders. taking turns in look
ing at the awful sight. The negros
head finally dropped and the ties were
piled around and over him. In half an
hour only the trunk Of the negro re-
manned.
AS soon as the heat would permit,
parts of his skull and body We're gath
cred up and carried away. AS the fire
died down the crowd took the two
men who caught the negro and held
them up over their heads, while they
held their Winchesters in their hands
and were photographed.
Section Foreman Mckee, husband
of the woman assaulted, applied the
match to the fagots. Many women
were present from the surrounding
country, but owing to the great crush
they had very little opportunity to see
the negro until the heat forced the
crowd to widen the circle and the
flames leaped over him.
The railroads brought crowds of peo-
pie to Long View junction, where they
boarded limited train which does not
ordinarily stop a. Lansing. The engi-
neer was forced at the point of
Winchester to stop at the scene of the
lynchng, however, and the mob disem-
barked.