Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1904-08-17
BURNED AT THE STAKE.

writhing and twisting IN tnelr agony,
screaming to heaven for the mercy that
the mob would not show, Paul Reed and
Will Cato, negroes, two Of the princl-
nails in the murder and burning of Henry
Hodges and wife and three OF their
children. six miles from Statesboro three
weeks ago, were burned at the stake yes
terday.
Yesterday afternoon at 1:2l o'clock,
determined mob charged upon the
courthouse, overpowered the military
guard, secured Cato and Reed, who had
been found guilty after a legal trial, and
sentenced to be hanged, took them two
miles from Statesboro, and there exacted
the fearful penalty.
In the corridors of the courthouse the
agitation began. The spectators left the
courtroom and from the lawn outside
many entered the Railways. Shortly
before | O'Clock the crowd was addressed
by a tall man who seemed to infame it
greatly. He called on those about him
to follow him. Then Capt. Hitch, OF
the Oglethorpe Light Infantry, who was
in command of the forces, realized that
the situation was desperate. He posted
guards on each of the stairways that led
to the floor above, where the prisoners
we're confined. With fixed oayonets but
unloaded rifles, the guards stood. The
mob surged toward them, but were re-
nnlsed several times. The determined
effortl was yet to be made.
At the rear stairway the gravest dam
ger threatened. Prominent nen, among
them Rev. Mr.. Hodges, brother of the
murdered man, sprang to the front to
address the crowd. They begged them
to disperse.
A commotion at the front drew the
crowd there. This was but temporary.
Presently they were back at the rear,
and some twenty-five men crowded
around the guards. Before they could
be prevented they had caught two OF the
guards, wrested their weapons from them,
and thrown open the breech blocks. The
weapons were empty. That was what
the crowd wanted to ascertain. The
troops had been given orders not to load
their rifles. The captured soldiers we're
held prisoners. The same policy was
followed With others of the soldiers.
Man after man, caught isolated, was
relieved of his rifle after struggle.
AT the front member of the mob
crept along the wall until he got close to
the guards. He threw himself upon
them. In the breach thus formed his
companions threw themselves. Two
hundred wildly cheering men followed
him, and soon the soldiers, though they
fought desperately and inflicted bayonet
wounds upon some of their assailants,
were oyerpOwered.
One young soldier Of the Oglethorpe
Guards never surrendered. He fought
his way free, fought through his captors,
and out upon the lawn. A weapon was
raised to strike him.
"Shame," shouted the crowd, and
struck down the man who had raised the
weapon. Then they threw themselves
upon the boy and overpowered him.
The small guard about the prisoners
withdrew into the room and closed the
door. The mob crashed against 1t,
bursting it as thought it we're an eggshell.
The prisoners were at their mercy, all re-
sistance having been beaten down.
Cato, Reed, Handy Bell, and the other
prisoners covered before the crowd.
They dragged. Cato and Reed out, re-
leasing Bell into the hands of the few
soldiers left there as soon as they
learned that he was not Reed, for whom
they had mistaken him. Reed was
taken down one stairway with a rope
about his neck, and Cato down the
other, both pleading FOR their lives.
By then the crowd numbered 500
They dragged the men along, shouting
and cheering along the roadway leading
to the Hodges homestead, where the fve
members of the family had been muir
dered and burned. This was their des-
tination, The heat was so intense that
the crowd wearied when two miles OF the
eleven-mile route had been traversed.
Going seventy-fve yards from the road
the crowd halted. Tbetwo negroes were
made to seat themselves on log. They
were told that they had but short time
TO live and that they should confess.
Reed was the first to speak. He con-
fessed, duplicating other negroes, as he
had in the court room. he denied,
however, that he had taken an active
part in the murder. Cato answered
incoherently. The crowd moved across
field to a strip of woodland. Several
men climbed to branches and called fol
ropes.
"Burn them" "Burn themr shouted
the crowd.
Cato begged to be shot or hanged
saving be was innocent that he had haC
no mart in the crime. Some of the more
humane wanted to grant his request bu
fbey were in the minority. The res
wanted to visit the same death upon th'
negroes that they had visited upon tn
5 Hodges family.
} A member of the mob made a speech
; recounting the horrors of the crime
{ This inAamed tAe crowd to the burning
pitch. To large stump, twelve lee
high, the men were chained, with thel
A backs to the stump.
= Then wagon load Of pine wood wa
I hauied to the spot. 1t was piled aroun'
the men and ten gallons of kerosene wa
thrown over them.