Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-07-28
coLoRED MAN NAMED CARTER Isl
/. SOUGHT TO AvENeE Avn
FUL CRIME. i
ASSAULTED YOUNG GIRL
Committed Crime Near Kahoka, Mo-,
and Farmers From Iowa and Mis-
x,eouri Are Securing the Country in
! Search Of Him.

Press)-A mob of farmere early to-
day began searching for a negro nam
ed Carter who is accused of having as
saulted Gertrude Hess, white girl, on
Sunday. The negro used a razor. The
girls life hangs in the balance. 1t is
reported the mob at noon surrounded
the negro near NIedill, Mo-, and that he
is to be lynched.
Pennington, July 81. - Courier
Special Service) - The negro named
Carter, who assaulted Gertrude Hess of
Kahoka on Saturday evening, is still
at large this afternoon, though several
angry and determined mobs of farm
ers, both Iowans and Missourians, are
securing the countryside with the
avowed intention of running the
wretch to earth and lynching him at
once The whole community is arous-
ed and if Carter is captured as it is al
most sure he will be, he will meet a
swift and sure death.
Description of Carter.
The negro is well-known around Ka-
hoka, where he has been for some
time. His name is Charles Carter and
he is half Italian and half negro.
He is described as having red
hair, a light mulatto color, with freck-
les and weighing about 140 pounds.
This morning a mob surrounded and
captured a negro who answered in a
way the description, and preparations
were almost finished to lynch him be-
fore the more conservative men pre-
vailed upon the radical element to lis
ten to the poor wretch's denial, when
he proved to his captors that he is in
nocent of the charge and is not Carter.
This only served to sharpen the desire
of the would-be lynchers to secure the
real criminal and they are making a
systematic search.
Girl Still Lives.
Gertrude Hess, the 16-year-old girl
who fell a victim to the fend, is still
alive, and it is now thought she will
recover. She has not yet re-
covered sufficiently to tell much of the
crime, and the particulars may never
be known.
The girl when found about II o'clock
Saturday night was unconscious. She
was lying in the road at point abbut
midway between Kahoka and Medill.
in Clarke county, Missouri, about
eighteen miles due south Of Farming
ton. Her person showed the effects OF
the awful crime which had been com
mitted, and when it was learned that
the person who was guilty of the as
sault was the negro, Carter, a amob was
quickly organized to search for him.
However, he has a big start over his
pursuers and may never be captured.
Reward is Offered.
The young girl was very popular
among the people of Kahoka and is the
daughter of well-to-do and highly re-
spected parents. The people of the
city and county around are Mortified
and farmers have dropped their work
in the harvest fields to join in the
chase for the man who committed the
crime. The state of Missouri and the
city of Kahoka have Jointly offered a
reward of $1,000 for the body of the
negro, dead or alive.
Hope for Success.
The leaders OF the mob hope for sue
cess tonight. They think that the man
Is trying to make his escape from the
country on foot and that he has not
succeeded in catching a train. Yes
sorday afternoon at 80 o'clock man
answering to the description of Carter
was seen on the Hitler farm a few
miles from the scene of the assault. and
it is thought that he is the criminal.