Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-26
BURNING AT THE STAKE
METED OUT FOB
CERTAIN CRIMES.
Not at All of Recent Date-Some In
cidents Showing It's Prac-
tice Long Ago.

THE burning of negroes for such crimes
as murder and assaulting women has been
rather frequent OF late years, and the gen.
eral impression has been that 1t is a new
and altogether modern development Of the
Iynching mania: a thing unknown until
within the past ten or fifteen years." said
an old citizen. This. however. Is very far
from being the case. II anything. the
burning of negroes for certain crimes Is q
revival of an old punishment. which, in
slavery times. was occasionally melted out
to slaves who killed their masters. 1t Is
true that 1t Is much more common nova
days than formerly. but this is no argu-
ment in favor of the notion that. prior to
1885. such punishments were unknown In
the south.
THE first instance Of the burning Of a
negro recorded in the early American
press may be found In Niles Register. pub
lished at Baltimore, Md, of February .,
1920, viz:
"A MI Thomas Hancock of Edge1eld
district. South Carolina, was lately killed
by two of his slaves, one Of whom con-
fessed the fact, to relieve his own con-
science. The deceased was shot as he was
getting into bed. One of the slaves Is con-
demned to be burnt to death, the other to
be hung
ut is impossible to say whether this
sentence was actually carried out. as there
is no further mention Of the affair in the
southern press of that day beyond what
appears in Niles Register. At any rate,
the burning of negroes for the crime OF
killing their masters appears to have been
unknown up to the time, and, for that
matter. long after the Edgefield. 8. c., af-
fair In the Atlantic seaboard states. The
gang of runaway slaves that in 1923 terror
lied the region about Nelson's Ferry. South
Carolina. killing prominent planter of
the name of Ford. were. when captured.
shot: the slaves who killed Thos. Edwards,
In King William county. Va. in 1928 were
hung. and even the Nat Turner insurrec-
tiOnists were dealt with according to law
In fact. it would appear that. like many
other practices. customs and Institutions OF
a character dt;tinctively and peculiarly
American. the burning Of negroes originat-
ed and received its greatest and earliest
encouragement in the country west Of the
Appalachians.
Freeman Burned to Death
During the latter part of May. 1885. a
deputy sheriff and several constables went
to arrest a negro. freeman, it appears,
employed on Mississippi river steamboat,
then lying at the wharf at st. Louis. The
negro succeeded, however, in making his
escape. assisted by another negro who, in
an alteration with one of the officers over
the part he had played in helping his COM
rade to escape, shot and killed the deputy
sheriff and mortally wounded one of the
constables, who died few hours later. The
remaining officers succeeded, however. in
capturing the murderous roustabout and in
placing him in the St. Louis jail. He had
been there barely two hours. when mob
of excited white men appeared on the scene
and demanded possession of the murderer.
which the sheriff granted. Securing their
victim they proceeded to the outskirts OF
the city. where the negro murderer was tled
to tree and burned to death In the most
approved modern fashion.
THE eastern newspapers had remained
curiously silent on the subject Of the Edge
news of the st. Louis burning reached the
Atlantic seaboard cities loud and long were
| the denunciat tons Of the press The st.
Louis horror they stated. was an example
| of barbarism unworthy of free republic,
and would forever remain an indelible blot
upon our civilization.
Thus widely advertised. the st. Louis
affair was not without its effect throughout
| the entire lower Mississippi valley. In De-
cember of the same year. 1885. negro,
| known as William. who killed his master,
] a Mr. Husky. near Hot Springs. Ark. was
taken from the sheriff by a mob OF whites
and burned to death.
Following so close together the two
| burnngs attracted widespread attention and
excited a deal of unfavorable comment In
the eastern papers. even the press OF Rich
mond and Charleston joining In the we'll
nigh universal condemnation of these two
| burnings. In the years following 1886 down
| to the breaking out of the civil war sew
eral other negroes were burned in the
southern states west of the Appala chtans,
although the practice thus instituted In
1896 appears to have practically died out
! by 1855 and we hear little more of the sub
| ject until about ten years after the civil
war when the punishment was revived Tor
those of the black race who committed GER
| tain crimes :"