The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-04-16
THEY ROB THE SHERIFF.
And Drive His Wife and
Daughters From Bed.
The Governor Sends the Militia
TO Restore Order.

leaders of their race and by the city
and county officials to keep off the
streets. Early in the evening they
abandoned their work at hotels and
other public places and hid. Many
moved their families out into the
country and planned spending the
night in the fields and woods
All the evening the town square was
flied with crowds. There was a feel
ing that more outrages against the ne
gro race would be committed There
were many baseless rumors and they
were eagerly accepted. One was that
the negroes were mobilizing in the
outskirts of the city and had stolen
supply Of dynamite.
OF the six companies Of militia or
dered here. six had arrived at mid
night.
BY midnight the militia had cleared
the public square of its crowds and
slept in their blankets around the tow
er where the negroes were lvnched.
Squads of militia patrolled the dis
triets IN which the negroes live. The
streels were soon deserted, except for
a few stragglers here and there.
There is a feeling now that all
trouble is over. Negro families that
were sleeping in the fields and about
homes.
The militia will remain until the an
thorltles feel certain that all danger of
mob violence has passed. Already A
reaction has set in and most people
condemn the action of the mob.
The Iynching.
When Easter Sunday dawned the
bodies of three negroes. burned bv a
MAD MOB Saturday night, lay in the
center OF the public square at the
FOOT of tower at top of which stands
a statue of the Goddess of liberty
holding aloft the torch of Civilization
Inc platform of the band stand where
the town band~.p plays upon summer
evenings was burned. The iron. rods of
the tower were warped by the fierce
IRE which incinerated the bodies of
the three men.
Five thousand persons saw the negroes
hanged ana burned Hundreds of wo-
men, girls and boys watched it In q
hall overlooking The plaza an Easter
dance was going ian.irIts music stophed
and tine dancers c7owded7 the windows
ana watched the writhing black bodies
in the flames. The first two neDroae
burned, men cheefed and the mob re-
turned again to the jail and brought out
another negro and after PLAYING with
him hanged and burned him. too. And
then the mob dispersed.
sunday morning the church bells rang
as cheerfly as if the night before had
nothing to hide. Children on their way
to Sunday school stopped to look and
prodded with older folks among the
ashes for relics. A trousers button sold
for FIVE cents. A piece Of the ha1
mans rope brought twenty-five cents
and all day the town square was filed;
all day there were muttered threats
against the negroes.
Il guess the negroes won't push us off
the sidewalks now" said the people
Probably Innocent
And the three negroes lynched nd
burned by the mob were probably inno-
that they were guilty. Their death was
not the result of any particular crime
they had done; it was not because of
any particular hatred against them as
individuals. 1t was the expression of
the peoples hatred for the negro It
was the vengeance of the whites upon
the blacks.
In this town there have been several
murders of white men by negroes Fol-
lowing these came the presentation Of
that hatred breeding. play, "The Clans
man." which further incensed the
whites against the blacks. Then came
the assault of a white woman by two
black men Friday night, and the mob
formed, battered down the Jail doors
and lynched the three negroes. e V
Horner. the sheriff, and six armed dep
uties remained in the jail while the
mob spent two hours tearing out win
dow and cutting open the steel doors of
the cage.
Word had gone out that two negroes,
Fred Coker and Horace Duncan. had
attacked a young white girl and that
the negroes were in jail. The fact was
that two negroes had held up white
man out driving with another's wife,
and had robbed him. and according to
the woman's story. had attacked her.
But the woman had said positively that
Duncan and Coker were not the men.
while her companion said they looked
to him like the ones.
AS the afternoon wore on. farmers
kept drifting into town. At dusk there
were groups upon every corner. The sa-
looms were busy The police force. see
negro prisoners out from the Jail and
/ hid them The chief telephoned the
sheriff to prepare for trouble. but he
laughed at the warning and made nc
/ preparations.
Jam at the Jail
At 9 o'clock the mob, only about SC
/ people in it then, started from the
/ square and ran. through the street tc
4 the police station, There they learned
that Duncan and Coker were in the
county jail nearly a mile away IN
! that direction the crowd ran. and ev-
/ el-ybody upon the streets went with
/ them At $50 o'clock they surrounded
/ the Jail. They shot out the windows
/ they battered down the 'front.' door OF
J the sheriff's residence and SWarmed in
Upstairs the sheriffs wife and tive
daughters were in bed. The mob. ours
ing and yelling. pulled them out of bed
wrapping blankets about themselves
they escaped.
Under the women's pillow was
found it and stole it. They stole ti1s
purse with $25 in it, One of the moi
sheriffs $s5 shotgun. Rough men
drunk and frenzfed. leaped upon The
dining room table and. dancing upon It
broke it into bits. They smashed
dishes, pocketed bric-a-brac, cursef
and yelled. Meanwhile a mob was dig
ging out the brick wall around barred
window. Inside fifty prisoners, two
thirds of them negroes. covered be
1 meath cots. praying screeching in ter