Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1906-08-08
THREE NEGROES AREl
LYNCHED RY MOB
Blacks Hanged and Riddled at
Salisbury, N. G..
sfoRMED ROWAN COUNTY JAIL
Mob, Composed of 500 Men, Ran
over the Soldiers and Battered the
Jail Doors Down-Two Members of
Mob Wounded by Accident.

Jail Doors Down-Two Members of
Mob Wounded by Accident.
Salisbury, N. c., Aug. IA mQb Of
5000 determined men, shortly before
IL O'clock Monday night, foroibiy en-
tered Rowan county jail here, remov-
ed therefrom three of the Ave negroes
charged with the murder Of the Lyer-
ly family, at Barber Junction, July 19,
and lynched them.
Nease and John Gillespie and Jack
Dillingham;, supposed to be the princi
pals to the crime were the victims of
mob vengeance. The remaining ne
groes-Henry Lee, George Erwin and
Bella Dillingham-were not molested,
and later the officers hurried them off
to Greensboro.
The mob began gathering at sun.
down. Mayor Boyden promptly or.
dered the saloons closed and, with
other promiAent citizens, United States
Senator Overman, Judge Long, who
was holding the special term of court
w ~ CAS hS6AOC0J anu OOI4S4LOI I1dlu
mer, gathered on the Jail steps and
addressed the crowd which at that
time numbered 1000.
There were howls and cat calls from
the mob, but for time there was no
move-the mob lacking leader.
While citizens were appealing to the
mob, two men slipped through the
crowd and were entering the Jail with
hammers. They were discovered and
arrested. The mob continued its yell
ing, but there was still no concerted
move.
About o'clock, Mayor Boyden call
ei upon the local military company,
the Rowan Rifles, for aid They as
sembled quickly but were supplied
only with blank cartridges, having no
orders to shoot to kill.
Fireman McLendon, of Charlotte, a
Southern railway employe. was shot
In the stomach by bullet said to have
been fired by member of the mob.
He was fatally wounded VIII Trout.
man, a negro drayman, was also seri-
ously shot about the same time. Both
are said to have been accidents. occa-
stoned by some of the few wild shots
fired by members of the mob With the
evident intention of frightening citi-
zens.
At 10 o'clock there was a stir in
the mob-it was augmented by fully
five hundred men, who came. it is
said, from Whitney, where the Whit
tney Reduction company is develop
ang the Yadlkin water power. 1t was
lbut a few minutes after their arrival
when a crowd Of so, forming a sort
of flying wedge, made break for the
Jail doors, overpowered the officers.
and effected an entrance. The great
crowd outside surged in behind the
leaders, and in few minutes more
emerged from the door with their vic.
Tins.
The negroes were quietly marched
'northward toward Spencer, but a halt
was made at Henderson's ball grounds
an the edge Of the town. There the
negroes were given time to confess the
crime. They refused to either denv
or confess and were so thoroughly
frightened as almost to have lost DOW.
er of speech.
John Gillespie wept piteously and
begged for his life. firing of its eff.
forts to secure statements from the ne.
groes, at midnight the ropes were
quickly brought forward and adjusted
and the three were strung up to the
limbs Of one tree and with howls and
curses the crowd ridd1ed the dangling
bodies with bullets.
BY 1890 o'clock it was all over and
half hour later nothing remained of
the immense throng that had packed
the streets but few groups of citi.
gems discussing the lyRching.
Fireman McLendon, wounded by a
stray bullet from the mob win die.
His home is in Charlotte. HeAwas
simply an interested spectator ofithe
scene.
The crime with which the negroes
were charged and for which they were
placed on trial at a special term OF
Rowan county court was the murder
on the night of July 13, att Barber
Junction, of Isaac Lyerly, his wife and
two children. Feeling ran high at the
time, and an effort was made tol1ynch
the negroes They were hurriedl away
and brought to Charlotte, where they
remained until Sunday night, when
they were taken to Salisbury for trial.