Rural Retreat times. [volume] (Rural Retreat, Va.) 1892-1918, 1903-07-31
NIGHT OF TERROR
At DANV|LLE, i'll. !,
Two Negroes Lylched by Maddened
Mod and Afterwards Burned
Their Beds.
MANY MEN SHOT IN The BATTLE.
Negro Became Involved in an. Alterca
ton With Mob While on Their
Way to Jail to Lynch a Negro
Charged With Criminal Assault
And Was Swung to Telephone
Pole

A negro named J. d. Mayfield, from
Evansville, Ind, who shot and killed
Henry Gatterman, White, was lynched
at Danville, Ill. by a mob of 600 men,
who were later fired upon by the
sheriff, three men being wounded.
The mob were clamoring for the life of
another negro named James Wilson,
who has confessed to brutal assault
on the wife of farmer at Alvon, ILL.,,
just north of Danville.
The negro Mayfeld met his fate
while the mob was on the way to lynch
Wilson. The angry throng was pass
ing down East Main street when the
negro became involved in an alterca-
tion with some of its members. They
started after him and he pulled gun
firing into the crowd
Henry Gatterman, young butcher,
who has recently returned from Fort
Monroe, fell MORALLY wounded and ex-
pired in few seconds. The negro tur-
ned and fed, but was caught by the
officers within a block of the scene of
the tragedy and hurried to the police
station with the mob in hot pursuit,
temporarily diverted from their march
to the county Jail.
The officers with their prisoner took
refuge in the city building, barricading
themselves behind the door of one of
the offices. They could not check the
mob, however, for 1t secured long
pole and tried to batter down section
of the wall and the door, both of which
were very thin. On account of the
overwhelming number of the mob it
was useless for the officers to resist.
The negro was seized and rushed to
the spot where he had shot down Cat
terman. 1t was the work of an instant
to throw rope around his neck and
swing him up to the nearest telephone
pole. The mob did not delay long
but waited to see that their victim was
dead. The life was slowly strangled
out and he was left hanging, while
the mob proceeded on to the county
Jail. The officers hoped to save the
second negro by some ruse.
Wilson, it is charged, went to the
farmhouse while the woman was alone
and told her he was hungry. While
she was getting something to eat he
entered the kitchen door and seized
her. He fled, leaving her half dead.
Afterward she managed to crawl to the
nearest farm house where she told the
story A posse of officers started in
pursuit of the negro and when Will
son was captured he was hurried to
the county Jail to prevent lynching.
There the negro confessed.
Three other negroes were attacked
by members of the mob and severely
beaten. One of them is Ben Rich, and
the other two are said to be refugees
rom Evansville, InA
The mob changed its mind before at
lacking the Jail and went back and cut
down Mayfield's body. They rushed i
to the public square and burned 1t il
a bonefire, hacking it to pieces witt
knives as it burned.
Then they charged the jail and thu
sheriff and deputies fired, woundins
several members of the mob, some ia
tally.
Among the wounded are Adam Mer
ry, fatally shot through the had; H
Hines, shot in neck and shoulder, maj
die; Otto Heinke. shot in the arm, will
recover.
The mob repulsed, sent to neigh
boring mining camp for dynamite.
The mob was Infatuated and threat
ened to lynch the sheriff and his dep
uties. also the negro turnkey in tn,
Jail.
After securing battering rams, 1t tool
the mob about half an hour to wrecl
the city prison. the negro being fount
hid in safe. He was pulled from tn,
safe, struck with sledges, knocked