The Washington herald., 1906-12-22
Annapolis Mob Hangs and
Riddles Harry Davis.
CONFEsSEs BEFORE HE DIES
Determined Men Gather at st. Johns
College, Batter the Jail, and Carry
Two Blocks of Governors Home.
Threatened with Prosecutions.

where Gov Edwin Warieid slept, mob
of lynchers, early this morning, strung UP
and riddled with lead Harry Davis, ne
gro. who confessed be dragged Mrs. John
Reid. aged sixty years. from her carriage
and attacked her on a public road.
The Iynchers met on the campus Of ST
Johns College at midnight Whether the
college students were in the crowd or not
is unknown; but a number OF men wore
the college colors and the whole body
moved on Lenoir Hall to blacken their
faces. The noises awakened a number
of students. who came down into Lenoir
Hall to investigate, but not 10 protest.
Prof. B. H. Wadde1, in his pajamas, de
manded to know what was going on.
Some one pushed an electric button and
all the lights went out II is affirmed and
denied that the professor was ordered
back 10 his room at the point of a re-
volveT. and that he obeyed. Then the
minstrel-like troupe left, three of the
men bearing rope across their shoulders
whipping Post for BntterinE Ram.
Two of the lynchers appeared at the
Annapolis Jail at a. m. one pretending
10 be an officer with a drunken person.
The bluff did not work, and the deputies
refused to open the doors. Then the men
tried to batter down the Jail doors with
the butt of an old whipping post but
failed. Next they went to a nearby
blacksmith shop and got a sledge ham
mer and pick. and hole large enough
10 admit man was knocked in a panel
of the door and six Of the mob Of sixty
were passed inside. They covered War
den George Taylor. Deputies Grouse and
Smallwood, and Waterman MarcelIus
with revolvers. and demanded the keys TO
the cells
smaIlwood said: Boys, please. let the
law take its course.
The reply was: Get up those stairs.
We want that scoundreI. and viii get him
or kill every man In the jail"
They got the keys and carried Davis.
who was handcUdcd. bodily out Of the
building.
silent March to Death.
As the lynchers marched across the city
not policeman was visible nor soul
in sight. Several heads stuck out Of win
dows, but quickly withdrew at the sight
OF the revolvers. All was silent save the
shutting of sixty mems feet along the
pavement The governors mansion was
bat 800 yards distant.
On the outskirts of the city the mob
began beating and mauling the negro.
The fusillade Of fifty shots was fred and
a trail of blood marked the route to a big
chestnut tree on a hillside sIoping down
10 a creek The moose was placed about
Davis neck and swung over limb ten
inches thick. Davis again confessed, and
as the mob grabbed the rope and ierked
the nesro's head up to the limb. fifteen OF
twenty more SHOTS rang out He was shot
through the heart and in the head.
At daylight his body was found stretch
ed on the grass, fun OF wounds and
swollen with bruises
Governor Warfeld slept through 1t all.
A jury has met and officially decided that
Davis IS dead but does not recommend
action and mentions no names of partici-
pants. Meanwhile President John Dill. Of
81 John College. is busy explaining that
no students took part in the lynching
state Not Ready for Trial.
States Attorney y. H Green. who
conducted the inquest, says he will do
an i'm his power to identify and locate
the leaders or members of the mob.
and that those so located would be
prosecuted to the full extent of the
law.
Asked why steps had not been taken
TO secure speedy trial Of the negro.
Mr.. Green replied that he. as States
attorney, had not felt that he could go
TO trial with the case and evidence
in the condition it was. While the
negro had confessed his crime. this
confession was only TO an officer of
the law. and after ne was i'm custody.
Mrs Reds Identification of the ac-
cuscd man had been made not i'm the
neSro's presence, but after Davis had
lett the room. Her reason for this
apparent doubt Of the Negroes identity.
she stated, was the fear that if she
positively recognized him her husband
would possibly have shot the man then
and there.
sheriff Did Not Believe Talk.
Sheriff L;1thicum's explanation of
the apparent lack Of preparedness for
an attack Of the jail is that he did not
expect the talk Of lynch law to amount
TO anything. There had been consider
able talk of mob violence on SUNDAY
and Monday, and on these two nights
the sheriff made his home at the ian.
being locked in the same tier Of cells
with his prisoner.
The next regular term of the Circuit
Court for the county is April. and States
Attorney Green and Sheriff Linthic11m
this morning seemed to expect 10 derel-
opments which would warrant an earlier
session Of either court or jury.
The victim of the mobs fury was n
well but not favOTably known character
in Annapolis. where ne had lived for some
years. He had served one or two FERNS
IN the House of Correction for minor
onenses and was recently accused by q
negro woman from Camp Parole of At
tempting an assault upon her The mem
beTs or his own race had little sympathy
for him, and since his capture many of
them have been heard TO say that he
would only get his deserts if he were
hanged
Governor Regrets LynchinE.
Baltimore, Dec. I-Gov WaraeId. who
was at his Baltimore Office to-day. in
speaking OF the lynching of the negro
Davis al Annapolis last night, urged ac-
ton by the grand jury OF Anne Arundel
County in discovering and furnishing the
participants. The governor said:
I had no intimation that any such act
was contemplated so could not CO.
operate in preventing it. I hope that the
grand jury OF Anne Arundel County viii
Immediately take steps to discover and
punish the men who participated in this
lawless act.
Il greatly regret the occurrence. and
do not hesitate TO deprecate and denounce
such lawless acts"
The governor said that he thought the
lynching was a complete surprise 10 every
one except those participating in it, as
there was no indication OF excitement In