Gilpin observer., 1907-01-03
LEBERC LYNCHED
MOB OF MASKED MEN HANG pES-
PERATE MURDERER.
AT THE LAS ANIMAS JAIL


pined Men Under Leadership
Sheriff and Force Overpowered and
Dsarmed.
Denver-A Republican special from
Las Animas, Colorado. Thursday night
says: Infuriated by the fiendieshness
of the crime and by their failure to
lynch Leberg last night. fifty masked
| men, heavily armed, tonight broke into
! the jail, overpowered Sheriff John D.
Brown and two deputies, bound and
| gagged them, and threw them into a
| cell.
They then secured Lars Iceberg, the
| murderer Of Henry Lanvenmeyer, and
hung him to a telegraph pole in the
| railroad yards an hour after they at
| tackled the Jail.
The lynching was done so quietly
that only those directly concerned in
the hanging knew anything unusual
was about to occur, and it was fully
an hour after the man was dead be-
fore the people generally knew that
Iceberg had paid the penalty of his
crime.
The disorderly, leaderless mob of
last night was transformed into a
thoroughly disciplined body of men un-
der leader whose commands were
obeyed with alacrity. There was no
| shouting, no shooting, no loud talking,
and lha man was secured from the Jail
and taken out in less than an hour
| from the time the lynchers started to
make their way into the jail.
The men who meted out death to
Iceberg met little resistance at the
| hands of the peace officers. When the
mob arrived at the Jail they sought
these officers and before they could
| offer resistance they were helpless
| While IL is believed that Iceberg was
| insane, the feeling against the man
| was so intense that the avengers
would not risk his being declared in.
| sane by the courts, so that the murder
| of the popular farmer would so un'
avenged.
Nothing can be learned as to the
identity Of the men who tonight took
| justice into their own hands, but it is
generally believed that they were
| close friends of the murdered farmer
and from the section where the de-
ceased lived and where the atrocious
crime was committed.
The people of the city generally be-
| lieved that the attempt to lynch Le'
| berg had been given up, as during the
| day there We're no demonstrations OF
any sort against the man and no
threats made openly that he would be
made to pay the death penalty for his
| fiendish crime.
Before Las Animas knew that the
man had been hanged Iceberg had
been dead more than an hour.
Details of the arrival of the lynch.
ing party at the Jail were divulged by
| two negroes confined in the jail for
petty offenses.
1t was Just S:45 when the fifty men,
completely armed, made their appear.
ance at the Jail and demanded of the
sheriff that the prisoner, Iceberg, be
turned over to them. The demand met
with instand refusal.
Without further words the leaders
of the mob disarmed and overpowered
Sheriff Brown, Marshal McCune and
Undersheriff McAffee.
The three men were then gagged
and bound, thrown into a cell and left
there while the mob began the effort
to get Leberg out of the steel cage in
which he was confined.
The work of the mob last night had
made entrance to the Jail compare.
lively easy. All that was left between
the mob and the prisoner was the steel
tered in vain.
With the fifty men was one who was
evidently well acquainted with the
mechanism of the lock on the steel
cage. The lock last night resisted all
efforts of the mob, but in few min.
utes tonight the locksmith of the party
managed to break it and effect an en-.
trance to the cell of Iceberg
When the avengers arrived at tho
Jail Leberg was in bed. When he
heard them he got up and dressed, and
when the men broke into the cell he
met them calmly and allowed the lead.
ers to put rope around his neck with.
out resistance.
In thirty minutes, that is at 9:15.
Iceberg was brought out of the cell,
and the rope put around his neck. He
was then led by the mob to telegram
pole in the railroad yards about %
yards from the Jail.
Without evidence OF excitement and
with absolutely no noise. the rope was
hoisted OYER an arm of the pole and
Leberg was jerked twenty feet off the
ground by twenty men.
No shots were fred at the body, and
there was absolutely no other demon.
stration.
While It is believed by many that
Leberg was insane, and that no sane
man could have committed the crime
charged against him. the feeling ran
so high among the friends of his vic
tim. who are believed to have been the
men who composed the mob who hung
Iceberg, that nothing would satisfy
them except the melting out of sum.
mary punishment.