The Winchester news. [volume] (Winchester, Ky.) 1908-19??, 1908-12-18
FULL STORY OF
5. HILL lyAfH | |
C0nfesses Crime and Mob Sings
Hymn Before Hanging
Murderer.

IneSday night. As the hangmen were
looping the rope around his neck, he
broke down and confessed his guilt,
declaring that death was his just
punishment and requested that the
mob which had hi min charge sing
one OF the old familiar songs that he
had often heard in the little meeting
house at Russell Springs and then
offer prayer for his soul.
TheImob leader stopped proceedings
and the determined men, at the re-
quest of the prisoner, sang, Jesus
Lover of My SOUL" while one of the
members followed with prayer. Hill
then told his executioners that he
was ready to die and his body was
jerked into the air. The rope being
securely fastened the mob quietly
dispersed.
Mob Members Give Details.
Persons residing I'm the vicinity
where Hill was hanged heard the
singing and praying, and the exact
facts afterwards leaked out from
members of the mob, which is backed
by the whole citizenship of Adair and
Russell counties.
When the mob appeared at the jail
in Monticello, Hill prayed to his Sa-
vior, begged for mercy and vigorous
| " declared his innocence of the aw-
ful crime, but deaf ears were turn
ed to his entreaties. He continued
to PLEAD innocence until the rope had
been looped around his neck.
The crime for which Hill was hang
ed was one of the most heinous ever
lcommitted in Central Kentucky, and
stirred Russell and surrounding
counties to fever heat. -
Victim His Own Cousin.
On Tuesday evening Of last week
he Intercepted his cousin, twelve
year-old Mamie Womack, on the
county road at a lonely spot in the
vicinity of Russell Springs as she
was returning to her home from
school at Mt. Olivet.
After assaulting his little relative,
he choked her, then beat her brains
out with club and carried her body
two hundred yards into a dense
thicket, where her dead form was
covered up with leaves. The body
was found at 10 o'clock at night by
a searching party, whose members
feared that the little girl had met an
evil fate. Blood hounds were hurried
to the scene of the crime from Hus-
tonville. They reached there the fol-
lowing day at 9 O'Clock.
Murderer at Victims Home.
In the meantime Hill had visited
the Womack home, had seen the re-
mains of his victim and appeared
to be visibly affected. A bystander
remarked that the murdered would be
burned at the stake as soon as trail
ed down by the bloodhounds, and
that the dogs were coming. Hill, who
had not been suspected, FASTENED
from the house and fled into the
woods of Russell county.
The bloodhounds arrived and were
taken to the scene of the tragedy and
given the scent from the club with
which the little girl had been beaten.
From that point they went into the
thicket where the body was found
and thence followed the trail to the
residence of Hills grandfather, where
he had spent the night. The trail
was followed to the Wamock home,
and then the long hunt of five days
through the woods began.
Murderer Found in Adair.
The murderer was frequently heard
of in advance of the hounds, but
each time succeeded In eluding the
officers who were sent ahead Fin
ally after covering a distance Of
ninety miles over mountains and
through dense thickets, the fugitive
criminal was found in an old barn
near Sano, Adair county, where he
had fallen asleep from exhaustion.
He was captured last Sunday morn
ing about 9 o'clock. -
The officers hurried Hill to James,
town, the county seat of Russell
county, where he was placed in jail.
Notwithstanding the fact that it was
Sunday, Judge Ell. HI. Dunbar called
special term of court and entered
upon the examining trial of the pris-
oner, but so many determined men
began gathering in the little town that
the trial was stopped and the prison
er returned to Jail and guard placed
around him.
Officers Warned of MOI.
Before 9 o'clock Sunday night the
n