Omaha daily bee., 1905-06-30
WHOLESALE MURDER BY MOB
Seven Negroes and One White Man Taken
from Georgia Jail by Mob.
ONE NEGRO ESCAPES WITH HIS LIFE
JaiIer Compelled to Give Keys Under
Threat of Death and Mob Dis
appears when Crime is
Accomplished.

WATKINSVILLE, Ga, June 29.-Eignt
prisoners were taken from the Jail here this
morning and seven shot to death by a mob
of masked white men within 200 yards of
the center of the town.
Eight men were carried to the scene of
the lynching, but one miraculously escaped
death by falling to the ground when the
volley was fired and feigning that he had
been killed. The names of the prisoners
who were killed are: Lewis Robertson
Rich Robinson, Sandy Price Claude Elder.
Bob Harris, Jim Yearly, all negroes. and
Lon Aycock, white. Joe Patterson. negro,
feigned death and the mob left him, think
ing he, too, had been riddled with bullets.
Four of the prisoners were charged with
being implicated in the murder of Hol-
brook and his wife several weeks ago, and
one was held for attempting criminal as
sault. The others were in jail on minor
charges. The members formed quietly Just
after midnight and marched in order to
the jail, where the keys were demanded
OF the jailer The demand was made at
the point of rifles and the jailer realized
that resistance was useless. With the keys
the mob opened all the cells ordered the
| trembling inmates out and lined them UP
In single file, tying them with ropes The
prisoners, eight in number, were marched
to corner lot within 200 yards of the Jail
and in the heart of the town, where they
were bound to a fence with their hands
tied behind them. The work had been so
| quietly done that the sleeping residents Of
the town had not been aroused.
One Man Escapes.
At a command by the leader the mob
stepped back few PAGES, took deliberate
aim and fired a volley from rifles, shot
guns and pistols into the line of prisoners
Every man in front of the mob fell at the
first volley.
Believing its work had been made COM
plete the mob quickly dispersed.
Examination by the jailor, who had been
forced by the mob to accompany 1t to the
scene of execution, showed that seven of
the men had been riddled by bullets, but
Joe Patterson was found to have been only
slightly injured. Pattersons escape from
death was as by a miracle, for the fence
post to which he had been bound was torn
| into fragments by the bullets. He pos
| sessed the presence of mind to fall with
| his ill-fated companions and remain mo-
| tionless upon the ground.
The rattle of the volley aroused the town.
| Scores of citizens sprang from their beds
| in alarm to find the mob nowhere in evil
| dence, however.
The strength of the mob had been vari-
| ously estimated. The Jailer declares that
| there were many armed men all wearing
masks. He says he delivered the keys to
the men, believing it was better 10 do this
| than to resist, which he was told would
mean the dynamiting of the prison. Gain
ing admittance to the jail the mob first
sought Sandy Price, who was arrested late
yesterday afternoon by posse from Oconee
county and delivered to the jailer.
! VT the time of his arrest a lynching was
narrowly averted. Price was charged by
Mrs. Weldon Dooley, who lives In the SUBJ
urbs of WatlIinsville, with having at
tempted criminal assault Wednesday after
noon, No further trouble is anticipated.