Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1910-08-20
ANGRY MOB WAS
TR|CKED AT HINTON
Strategy of Sheriff and Troops Saves
Suspected Negro Murderer and
Ravisher From Lynching.

Hinton, w Va Aug. 18,-After AMI
afternoon and night of conflict be-
tween troops, officers and citizens on
the one side and a determined mob on
the other, Thomas Wayne, negro,-ar-
rested near Quinnimont charged with
the murder of Mrs. John Ailiss,-the
negro was spirited away to the noun
tains in the custody Of Sheriff d. w
Wiseman and two deputies.
The strategy of the officers, the
troops and the better citizens who
stood between the trembling negro sus
pect and inglorious death, has hardly
aparallel in its success. Tuesday night
Hinton was in darkness, homes were
deserted, the city overrun with the
blood-thirsty clamoring for vengeance,
and many are yet unwilling to believe
that the object of their fury is beyon
it,
After fruitless attempts to rush the
prisoner from the mob by the special
train on which he had been placed,
but which had been disabled, the mob
was given to understand that the
negro was to be taken back to jail,
and UP the hill from the station the
leaders charged Meantime the negro,
held tremblingly between the sheriff
and deputies, was told to run for his
life toward the east The mob ciamor-
ed and ran, falling over each other,
to intercept the sheriff the troops who
were covering his retreat. and the
citizen volunteers to Jail
Negro Safe With Sheriffs.
In vain they waited, but the last
seen of the negro and his keepers
was their disappearance down the
track, the retreat guarded by the Fay
etteyille National Guards The sheriff
and his charge, with two deputies,
were seen at the town of Avis. There
they were lost sight of and last night
they camped in the hills, ready when
the Charleston Guardsmen arrive to
DE escorted back to the railroad and 10
safety.
From o'clock. in the afternoon,
when Wayne was brought to the Sum
mers county jail, Hinton has been a
mob-ridden city.
Thomas Wayne was employed at
the power house of coal workings,
near Laurel creek, and was suspected
of being the negro who assaulted Mrs.
John Ailiss, after beating her husband
;nto insen5ibility. Ailiss had said
when he recovered sufficiently that
ne believed that the negro looked like
a negro at the power house, whom he
had asked to take his wife and himself
to Quinnimont, Sunday night, on a
hand car He offered him a dollar,
and the negro refused En- route,
senseless. His wife was ravished and
murdered.
Incident Clue to the Arrest.
With this incident as a clue. officer
c. D. Duke, Baldwin officer. and two
other officers. arrested the negro.
There are rumors here now that
they found bloody clothing and that
the negro declared the clothing be-
longed to his brother
The negro was placed aboard a train
and taken to Hinton, where lie was
placed in Jail Hundreds gathered
about the Jail and became so threat
ening that Sheriff Wiseman and his
deputies troops were gotten into read
mess, and meantime the Fayette Co. F
was ordered out, headed by Capt.
Samuel Walker.
Bargain Struck With Mob.
Some of the cooler headed counsel
ed for time, and made bargain with
the mob for a consideration of blood
and life 1t was agreed that Wayne
was to be taken to the station from
the Jail peaceably Adliss was to be
brought from Hinton hospital. and
brought before him in a Pullman car
lying on the tracks
1t was agreed that if Ailiss did not
identify the negro he was to be taken
in peace. II he was identified then
speedy justice was to be promised
and assured, and the negro was to be
left at Hinton, an agreement that
both understood, and one that was
virtually sealed in blood
Distrusted Each Other.
That the mob leaders and the citi-
zens and officers distrusted each other
was evidenced by developments The
car in which Wayne was placed was
attached to an engine and it was in
tended to make a dash for Charles
ton or Fayetteville Or other place of
safety.
The mob feared this, had drained