The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1910-08-05
BLOODY WORK of MOB.
sHERIFF sAYA NEeHoks VEtE-
Slain ~ sioo6THiksTY fos.
Bodies Scattered over Country so
Widely Many Of Them May Never
Be Recovered.

-
Be R~ecovered.
E9IG6iG1IM ALHIHh
Palestine, ITex.-At,leas fifteen, and
1t may be twenty, negroes, all Of them
probably unarmed, were hunted down
and killed BY abnob numbering per
haps two or three hundred men near
Slocum and benson Springs, in the vi.
cinity of this city, Saturday night and
Sunday. according to thu opinion Of
Sheriff Black.
The sheriff returned early Sunday
morning after a twenty-four hour alb
sence in that district, where racial
ItroubIe has been acute, and described
In some detail the CONDITIONS which
he found to exist there.| He told of a
fierce man hunt in the woods, of rid
Edled bodies found on lohely. roads and
Of the terror almost Understandable
among the negro inhabitants ia the
northeastern part of Anderson county.
Sheriff Black is stfs that his esti-
mate OF the dead is Epnservative. He
said ne had a carkful inv estlgation
made. and after telling Of tsresults
added this statement
1--WE may never find some 81 the
I found the srsatta4sa sucitemebtI
prevailing throughout that section Of
the cbantry," he said. tMsn weretgo7
Ting about and killing negroes as fast
as they could find them, and, 50 far
as 1 have been able to ascertain, with
out any real cause at al. These me
groes have never done anything that
Icould discoSerst,T hSA was just a
hot-headed gang huntihg them down
and killing them
1--WE found eleven dead bodies. but
from what / have heard, the dead
must number ffteens0r twenty. We.
came across four bodies in one house
On a marsh between benson Springs
and Slocum.
II don't know how many there were
in the mob, but I think there must
have been 200 or 800 altogether. M
$50 far as I can learn the negroes
were not armed. I sent two deputies
out through that county to collect all
the arms they could find in the houses.
Of negroes. They made a thorough
search. but found only nine. little sin
gle-barreled shotguns, none OF which
seemed to have been fired lately, and
about thirty shells, all loaded with
small shot.
II ans led ito believe that the main
start of the trouble was due toEa chm
troversy over a promissory note, This
may not be true, but that is the i'm
preston I have at this stage Of the
investigation. r. Afford, a white man,
who is a cripple, had gone on q ne
gro's note. The note came due and he
got after the negrb to renew It or pay
1t, or something Of the kind, and the
negro would not do it, and cursed him,
The Incident Caused bad feeling. "
"A few days later a white man, Jas.
Spurger, was notified to do roadwork
under a negro oyerseer. Slocufa is on.
the line between Houston and Andet-
son counties and the negro overseer
must have been in Houston county,
because itfds declared here ithatNIo
negroes haldlslch loffcei In Anderson.
county. Spurger Indignantly refused
to comply with the order, it is assert
ed; and this only added to the gravity
Of the situation. On top of all this
came the discovery, according to re-
liable men in that section, that the ne
groes were holding secret meetings.
OO~4 o~r~ So n11onAI - LorA o~~
fessed that a plan had been evolved to
kill Spurger and his family. Another
negro, armed with a shotgun, was seen
sneaking up behind Spurger. Some Of
Spurger's friends shouted to him just
in time and he lodged behind a house.
Then the negro fed, but was tracked
down, and when he showed resistance
was shot. ~ .-. 20 ID
Then + think Mr.. Spurges probably !.
had a little trouble with them. At
least they claim that he whipped one.
Somebody saw this negro slipping up
to Spurges' house. This negro was
killed and then they vent to killing
them all over the country. "-f
II think the most of that crowd OF
men came from Houston county. !s+
"They were hunting the negroes
down like sheep. We found two in the
road that had been shot about 10
night before last. 1t was evl-
dent that at the time they were killed
they were trying to get out of the
county, for they had their bundles of
clothes with them.
at will be difficult to find out just
how many were killed, because the
dead are scattered ali over the woods.
Some will probably never be found.
Foreign Trade Increases.