Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-07-30
RACE VAR At DANV|LLE.
Jail Surrounded by Mob Determined
to Lynch a Negro Who As
saultedf White Woman.
sHERIFF'S LIFE MAY Be SACRIFICED.

Angry Woman Harangues Men to
Seek Vengennce-Troops Called
Out and Another Bloody Battle
Between the Factions is Immi-
nent.
Danville, ILL.,, July PA race war
is raging in Danville. One negro, j..
D. Mayfield, a refugee from Evans
Vile, Ind, which also recently had a
rae struggle, has already been
lynched and his body mutilated and
burned by a mob of 600 men and
women, who are now %clamoring for
the life of James Wilson, who has con-
fessed to assaulting Mrs. Thomas Bur-
CESS, wife of a farmer at Alvan, near
this city.
Once the mob began to use batter
ing rams on the Jail doors. The sher-
if and his deputies fred into the
crowd. Several persons were wound
ed, some, it is believed, fatally.
The mob being repulsed %temporari-
Iy, sent to a neighboring mining
camp for dynamite to again attack
the Jail. The crowd in it's fury threat
sned to lynch the sheriff and his depu-
ties and also a negro turnkey in the
Jail.
How Mayfeld Met His Death.
Mayfield met his fate while the mob
was on the way to lynch Wilson. The
angry throng was passing down East
Main street when the negro became
involved in an alteration with some
Of its members. They started after
him and he pulled a pistol and fred
into the crowd.
Henry Gatterman, a young butcher,
fell mortally wounded, and expired in
q few seconds.
The negro turned and fled, but was
caught by 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, bar
Reading themselves behind the door.
They could not check the mob, how
ever, for it secured a long pole and
tried to batter down a section of the
wall and the door, both of which were
very thin. On account of the over
whelming numbers of the mob it was
useless for the officers to resist. The
negro was hurriedly seized and
rushed to the spot where he had shot
down Gatterman.
1t was the work of an instant to
throw a rope around his neck and
swing him up to the nearest telegraph
pole.
Hay, dry goods boxes and barrels
were collected, and the corpse was
thrown upon the pile. A torch "a
applied and the flames shot up.
When the mob had done everything
its fury could suggest, it turned again
to the Jail, in front of which was still
smouldering the human bonfire.
All were armed. Sheriff Whitlock
shouted to the mob to stand back, or
he and his men would fire.
The warning was UNDECIDED, and, as
the mob was almost upon the Jail
door, a volley rang out from the in
side. Several of the mob fell. A bull
let pierced the head of Adam Merry.
His death is a matter of but a short
time.
Woman Urged Mob I Hang sheriff.
" woman mounted a large store box
In the middle of the public square
and shouted: "Kill the sheriff. He
has shot more than one white man on
account of a negro"
A message was sent to a mining
camp at Westfield, ILL.,, to bring over
dynamite to blow up the Jail, and the
mob leaders were notified that two
miners had started for the explosive.
Nearly two hundred men and wom-
en- from Alvan, where the assault on
Mrs. Burgess was committed, are ac-
tive leaders of the mob.
Wilson, it is charged, went to the
Burgess farm house while Mrs. Bur-
CESS. was alone and told her he was
hungry.
While she was getting hirk some
thing to eat, he entered the kitchen
door and seized her. He fed, leaving
her half dead. Afterward, she man
aged to crawl to the nearest farm
house, where she told the story. A
posse of officers started in pursuit of
the negro, and when Wilson was cap
tured he was hurried to the county
Jail to prevent lynching.
There the negro confessed.
Four companies of militia arrived
at $3.50 Sunday morning from Spring
field. Companies A, /, B, and H, of
the Seventh Illinois infantry, was sent
in reply to urgent requests sent at
midnight to state officials. The troops
marched to the market house oppo-
site the Jail and camped. Streets were
cleared and threatening attitude of
the crowds disappeared. There were
sullen threats heard, but no attempt
at an outbreak was manifest during
the day. One hundred s~entinels are
~patroling the streets in the immedi-
ate vicinity of the Jail. Each soldier
carries 40 rounds of ammunition.
Extreme Heat in Nebraska.