The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1908-02-13

nally assaulted Miss Williams. ;
young white woman near Brook
maven, Miss, several weeks ago
was taken from the custody o1
the jackson military COMPANY
Monday at Z a. m. at Brookhay
en-, and hanged from a telephone
pole within less than a hundred
yards of the court house, where
he was to have been tried for his
crime.
| The military company and the
deputies were overpowered by 3
mob said to number a thousand
men. Several shots were free
during the melee, and two mem.
bers of the mob were wounded.
Pigot' reached Brookhaven from
jackson shortly after 7 o'clock in
custody of Sheriff Frank Greer
and under the armed escort OF
the Capitol Light Guards, or
dered into service by Governor
Noel to protect the negro from
the mob.
When the soldiers and the ne
gro alighted from the train, the
mob surged around them, and a
fierce hand to hand fight ensued,
in which fists were freely used,
and the soldiers dubbed the mob
with their guns. The fight last
ed five minutes, and the military
started with the prisoner to the
court house, when the mob, rein
forced and organized, made
another attack, secured the pris-
oner, dragged him to a telegraph
pole and hanged him.
The mob began to assemble
before daylight coming into the
town in wagons, on horseback
and walking. It's ranks includ-
ed some of the most prominent
farmers in Lincoln county, espec-
tally in the neighborhood of
Ruth, where the assault by the
negro is alleged to have occurred.
BY the time the train from Jack
son arrived there were over
/ 2, 600 men in the crowd at the
railway station. No attempt at
concealment was made, not a
man IN the mob wearing a mask.
The first ATTEMPT to take the
negro from the military proved
futile, the soldiers beating the
members of the mob back with
the butts of their rifles and
taking up the march to the
court house. Before the court
house was reached, however,
the mob, which was now
m u uch h larger, entirely sur
rounded the soldiers and swept
down upon them.
Judge Wilkinson, who was to
have presided at the negro's trial,
witnessed the lynching, but was
poWerless to prevent the mob
from carrying out it's purpose.
The two men wounded in the
fight with the soldiers were JOS
eph Cole, of Brookhaven, and an
unidentified farmer. Neither OF
these is seriously wounded.
The Capitol Light Guards re-
turned home on the noon train,
and marched to the armory al
the old Capitol where disband.
ment took place.
Only one member of the com.
pany, Sergeant Leslie Orme, was
seriously injured. He had beer
knocked down with a gun anc
trampled on by the mob. Wher
the company disembarked at the
station, Orme was sent home ir
an ambulance.
/ A dozen or more members o1
the company bear scratches
Welts and bruises that testify tt
the ferocity of the fighting with
the members of the mob. Capt
Farley has sprained finger. II
discussing the trip he said:
''The Brookhaven military com
pany was also on hand, but the
two organizations had only sixty
men in line to battle with a mol
estimated at anywhere from
| /, 200 to 1000. We had a run
lining fight for three blocks, ant
were overpowered by force O.
numbers, three or four mel
grabbing one soldier.
| We did not fire on the mol
because no orders were given t
i do SO, and we considered our
selves under the command Of tn
| sheriff of the county. If he ha'
given me the order to fire tn
1 command would have beel
| obeyed.
Ie4~--.