The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1908-11-27
cowARDlcE OF A MOB.
Five Brave Men Can Rout a Hundred
Night Riders.

cowardly body. This is so OF banded
crowd with shotguns and ponies,
whether in Maine or in Kentucky. Let
a sheriff show fight, let squad OF POI
licemen march abreast toward the
ranks OF the outlaws, and they will
dispense like quail before a pointer
dog.
Five brave. courageous men can rout
a hundred whitecaps or night riders.
he instances are many when this has
been demonstrated. In Vicksburg some
years ago, James NJ. Gibson, District
| Attorney, quietly spirited an alleged
| culprit from the local Jail TO the peni-
| Tertiary at Jackson. Meantime a mob
had formed and, discovering the ruse.
| fell upon Gibson in Main street. For
moment the 500 men looked menac-
ing Suddenly Pat Henry. an intimate
OF Gibson, appeared. In another min
ute Charley J. Searles was with them.
hen along came wild Bill" McLaurin,
brother to the Senator.
I'll give you fellows five minutes
by the watch TO disperse and get of
the streetsl" shouted Gibson TO the
mob. IF you are in sight when the
time is up, we four men will run each
OF you In the river" The Gibson party
drew their guns and watches. In two
minutes there wasn't a mob.
In Birmingham in 1888. a locomo-
tive engineer had brutally slain
young woman and cast her body in the
lake. The evening OF his arrest 5000
men formed to break down the jail
and lynch him.
AS they approached the Sheriff. with
20 Deputies inside the Jail inclosure.
warned them OF their peril should they
come nearer. The mob hooted and a
pistol was fired. In five seconds
score of men, among them the Post.
master. lay dying. Next morning there
was peace.
Senator McLaurin himself, while
District Attorney of Smith County,
Mississippi. rescued a negro from
mob of 1000. He backed the trem-
bling creature up against a tree, shield.
ing him with his body, drew a revolver
and dared one of them TO lay hands on
the prisoner. Then. seeing he had the
situation in hand. he marched his man
back TO Jail.
The greatest mob of modern times
occurred In New Orleans in 1892, when
IL members of the Malta were taken
from the parish prison and hanged.
They were accused of having assassi-
mated Chief of Police Hennessey. Be
cause OF the jury being bribed they
were acquitted. Next morning half Of
New Orleans gathered around Clay
statue. in Canal street A fiery adj
dress was made by Mayor Parker, and
then the mob rushed to the Jail After
an hours bloody work some one said
Let's go after the jury and the de-
tective who bribed It,"
The jurymen had fed, But the de-
tective. with one friend by his side at
his home, sent word TO the mob where
he was. and invited II 10 come and do
its worst. But he was not visited, and
that night he freely walked the streets.
IL took cold nerve to do this, but this
man had it,
One day. 20 years ago. sat on the
porch of the Palace Hotel Gall hotels
In Western Texas are palaces) a.
Sweetwater. The saloon of Schiefflin |
& Guillot was next door. Across the |
street was another gin mill. run by |
four brothers of the name of Ward. |
They came acros= TIE street leisurely. |
walked inside and began firing After |
numbering the three men connected |
with their rival saloon. they returned |
TO their own place and sent to a livery |
stable for horses.
In those days every Texan was sup
posed 10 be a fighter. Cowboys. team
sters and ranchmen were in this town
by the hundreds. They collected in a
body. BY this time the Ward boys had
got their feet in stirrups, and with six.
shooters fourishing rode away No
one gave the command to halt. The
grim courage of the assassins appalled,
and awed them.
Take the case OF Robert Sims, in
County, Alabama. Is years
ago. Sims was free-love advocate
He made moonshine and defied the
Revenue Collectors. One day he was
and was being transport
ed to Mobile. when some Of his follow
ers overlook the Deputy Marshais
posse, killed three of them, rescued
Sims and took him back On Christ
mas Day. 1891, six of his men were
lynched. Still. in his home, with his
Two beautiful daughters as his only
aid, he held off a mob of 1000 for nine
lays. At last, however, he was lynched
In one of the small villages of Har-
-ison County, Indiana, in which. by the
way, there never was the face OF a
,olored man shown since 1869, a mob
ook a woman out one night and, strip
Ding her. whipped her brutally. The
.harge was that she had mistreated
Ter stepchildren. At the time of the
assault her husband was absent But
,ext day this man, suspecting the bar
,arions, visited each and every one
tweaked their noses and
pat in their faces. Then he went home
lnscathed to nurse his wifes wounds
Speaking OF mobs, | must tell
tory. Some time ago, when the de
aulting State Treasurer, z. A. Burke,
an a New Orleans newspaper, man
vas arrested in one of the parishes
cross Manchase. charged with he
nous crime Mr. Burke sent re
orter over in a tug. there being no
Their means OF communication. The
wires were down The mob
hat had gathered hesitated about us
ng the rope. Finally the reporter in
erceded: See here, boys" he said,
IL you are going to lynch this man. do
now. I've just time TO reach the
|