The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-30
Nine Taken From Jail,
 One Escaping.
THE nOB'S QUIET WORK
Coerced officers at Point of
 Guns.
Blacks Lynched Were Incsrceratsd on Charges Ranging from Murder and Criminal Assaurt to
 Theft es Riae.

watkinsyiIie. 3a., Juno 2s.--A mob | ent ,red the jail at watkinsville at I
 o'clock this morning and took there- l from nine prisoners. eight of whom | were shot to death, and the ninth es-s | capped only by beiug thought doad by l the mob.
 | The prisoners taken o,it and lynched | were: Lon J. Aycock. white, charged with the murder of F. M. Holbrook and
 wife of oconee County. end seven ns- | groes, Rich Robinson, Lewis Robinson. l Claude Elder, charged with the murder l of the Holbrcok couple; Sandy Price. a | young negro. charged with attempted | rape upon the person of Mrs. Weldon l Dooleyi Rich Allen. q negro convicted and under sentence of death of mur-
 der of Win Robertson. another negss; | Gene Yerby, a negro. charged with | burglary Of 0 rife from Mir. Marshall. and Bob Harris. Q negro. charged with
 shooting another negro.
 I The mob carno quietly into Watkins | vile little before 2 a m. There were about 500 men in the crowd. All | were heavily masked and no one knew | whence they came or to what point 1 they returned, They went at once to tho house of Town Marshal T. H. Aiken and quietly called him to the door AS
 he put his head out of the door he was
 seized and told that he must deliver | the jail key. He refused and the men
 put pistols in his face and overpow- | cred him. he being rather small man. | Aiken refused to dress. but some of the party dressed him and carried him l along.
 | Carried Blacksmith Along. | The mob next seized Courtney Elder, q blacksmith. and made him bring his
 tools along with him.
 l On their way to the jail they were
 met by A. W. Ashford. prnminent
 citizen of Watkinsviiie who had heard
 the noise at the marshars house and | came down town as soon as he could | dress. Mir. Ashford begged the men to desist and let the law take ffa course. especially pleading for Aycocls on the ground that the evidence had not been secured to warrant his c0n~
 lynch those not charged with eanltal
 crimes. They told him that they were | cool, sober and determined ana fhat | to bed 4 so | The jail was then opened by the tauvn
 marshal under the cover Of several | pistols and inside the jail the mob heid up Jaiier Crow and demanded the kevr , 70 the cells. He refused at flrst hs,T surrendered them after being menscegs wltn guns. Jailer Crow begged hard TOT law and order on the. same ground that MT Ashford did. and also for the two negroes who were not char1e4s wiln capital crimes. He was toId to shut his mouth. They knew what to do, they said. and they were roinr tc clear out the whole 1ail
 ahe moo got every prisoner in the Ian except Ed Thrasher. a negro. charsed with gambling. who was on tne misdemeanor side of the prison and was unnotIced. The prisonera were carried to a point some 100 yards from the jail and tied to the fenca posts by their necks.
 Aycock protested his innocence to the last. He said they were Killing an innoncent man. While the general belief In oconee County is that Ay- cock was guilty. still there were many who did not believe so. ..
 Implicated Others.
 Rich Robinson said 1t was all right so far as he was concerned. but that three more negroes were in the Hoi- brook murder. He named Sidney Nor- ris. Jim Taylor and Wiley Durham as the three implicated. These negroes had been in jail on this charge and had been released after fun investigation by the committee. The other prison CTS did not open their mouths during their march to their doom.
 After the prisoners had been tied to the fence posts the mob lined up and fired five volleys into their bod lcS. All 0lSu HAlnOul SLE086lt W1tu the exception of Joe Patterson, a ne- gro, who was charged with pointing gun at Albert Ward. Patterson was shot several times in the body. but was alive after the mob left, and will recover.
 The mob left quietly after doing It's work It is believed the men came from neignboring counties as the re- port was brought to Watkinsville yes- terday afternoon by A. N. Bostwlck of Morgan County that mob was Ilke- ly to attack the Jail last night. This rumor. however. was not given much credence.
 The purpose of the mob was accom- plished so quietly that the sheriff. who lives mile from the jail. knew noth- ing of the occurrence until this morn ing and the residents of WatkinsvilIe were taken completely by surprise. The impelling cause of the lynching without doubt was the attempted rape by Sandy Price, which excited the peo- pie all over this section.
 Governor to offer Reward.
 Ha rr. Fr.ka