The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1908-09-09
INFURIATED CITIZENS
Swing HIM To A LIMB
More Than Half of the Citizens OF
Lafayette County Said to Have par
ticipated in the Lynchins-sheriff
Completely overpowered.
Daily News Special.

Daily News Special.
Oxford, Miss, September 9.-Law-
son Hatton, a negro, who criminally
assaulted and afterward murdered
Mrs. M. Mcmillan, a young white wo-
man near this city yesterday after
noon. was taken from the Lafayette
County Jail and hanged by mob OF
infuriatetd white citizens soon after
/ O'Clock this morning.
The crime which Hatton committed
was one of the most brutal in the Grim
inai annals of the state. Mrs. McM1l-
lan's husband is serving a sentence in
the Oxford Jail and Hatton was sent
to the Mcmillan home to deliver
message. He found Mrs. Mcmillan
: alone and little ms known of the strug-
gle that ensued further than the brief
statement of the woman, who was
found by neighbors with her throat cut
from ear to ear. A bloody knife was
lying near her body on the floor. Re-
storatives were administered and she
regained consciousness long enough to
charge Hatton with the crime and to
say that she had been criminally as
saulted by the black brute.
Mrs. Mcmillan died shortly after
wards.
POSSE is ORGANIZED.
The news of the crime spread rapid
ly, as the Mcmillan home is less than
a mile from the county court house. A
posse of citizens was soon securing the
woods for the negro, who was finally
found crouching behind tree and
opened fire on his pursuers. Several
shots were exchanged before Hatton
received a bullet wound in the arm
and was forced to surrender. He was
carried to town and lodged in the coun-
ty Jail This was about 4:30 o'clock
in the afternoon.
Several times during the evening
crowds gathered about the jail and
Threatened to lynch the negro, but cool
heads prevailed and darkness arrived
without demonstration.
Early in the night armed men began
to arrive from the country. These
were augmented by the townspeople
until the jail yard was crowded to
xuo-aou,;oo Nv, ,,idnioht if aaauad
that half of the population of the
county was present The sheriff ap-
peared on the scene, but was soon
overpowered. He had hidden the keys,
however, and said that he would die
before he would tell where to find
them.
An effort was then made to batter
down the Jail doors, but the structure
withstood the onslaughts with axes
and other instruments. A window
shutter was priced open and several
shots were fired at the negro, who was
crouched in a corner of the cell. Sew
eral of the shots took effect as evil
denced by the cries of the victim. The
sheriff then unlocked the door and the
mob surged in. A rope was secured
and tied around the negros neck. He
was then dragged into the jail yard
and swung to the limb of convenient
tree. The mob then dispersed, appar-
entity satisfied with its work.
The officers of the law pleaded with
the mob to spare the brute and save
the good name of the town as peace
able community but they might just
! as well have been talking to the wind.
Their words and their efforts had no
more weight than does the dew on the
monarch oak The white people of the
community we're determined to avenge
the victim of the black brutes lust,
and they went about it in business.
like way. A regiment of soldiers at
the jail doors could not have stopped
the mob, so infuriated had its members