The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1911-08-30
BURNT ALIVE
Woman's AssaiIIant Busned at Stake IL
Oklahoma by Iafuliased Mob
CONFESSED HIS GUILT

CONFESSED HS GULL
Thousands View Gruesome Spectacle
in Main Street Of Purcell, Follow.
ing Capture Of Man Who Attack.
ed Farmers Wife and Sought to
hide Crime by Firing House.
While 5000 men, women and chill.
dren stood by shouting their approx
al, Peter Carter, negro, who had
previously been captured by three
members of his own race and iden.
titled as the man who last Wednes,
Gay night attacked Mrs. MIME Sprag.
gins, wife of farmer, was burned
to death on brush pile, in the main
street of Purcell, at five o'clock on
Thursday afternoon.
Deputy Sheriff Hayes and Under
Sheriff Farris, who attempted to res
cue the negro from the crowd, were
oyerpowered and locked in the Court
House.
Mrs. Spraggins was assaulted while
alone in her home, one mile south OF
Purcell. After the deed the negro
set fire to the spraggins home. Mrs
Spraggin's husband saw the flames
while working In the fields and rush
ed into the house In time to rescue
his wife. She declared Carter, who
formerly worked on the Spraggin's
farm, had attacket her.
Officers went to Carter's home and
arrested him. He was turned over
to a constable, but on the way to
jail escaped. When 1t became known
that the negro was free, farmers OF
the neighborhood organized a posse
and an all-night search was made.
The negro was not found.
Thursday afternoon Hingley Hen
~, negro janitor, noticed strange
negro riding under a box car near
the Oklahoma Central Railway sta
ton. With the aid Of two other ne
groes, who had armed themselves,
the negro janitor pulled Carter from
beneath the car. He was then taken
to the main street Of Purcell, where
a great crowd had gathered.
t@Turn that negro over TO- me, y
said tall farmer, who suddenly
seemed to assume command Of the
crowd.
The ianitor and his two aides obey
ed. Carter was taken across the
street and in an instant many men
and boys were gathered. At this
duncture Deputy Sheriff Hayes and
Under Sheriff Farris arrived and
pleaded with the mob to turn the
prisoner over to them. The Sheriff
and his assistant were locked up and
the negro was led out and placed OF
an oil-soaked brush heap, built
around a telephone pole. He was
tied to the pole and the torch applied.
Cheers came from the crowd as the
flames licked the victims face, and
men and women In motor cars wat
ched him die. AS he was lashed to
the pole the negro shrieked for mer-
cy. After the flames died down the
crowd slowly dispersed. The negro's
body was burned to a crisp.
Mrs. Spraggins, who is not ex-
pected to live, said Carter entered
her home and struck her on the head
with revolver, beating her until she
was unconscious. An old mattress
was torn up and scattered over her
body. After the negro had set the
mattress on fire he fed. AS Mrs.
Spraggins was crawling from under
the fire the negro then re-appeared
and again struck her with pipe,
breaking her jaw and beating her
badly. Her husband, rushing to the
house, rescued his wife, unconscious.
In a few minutes more she would
have been dead.
The pile of wood and brush on
which the negro's body was burned
was still smouldering at ten O'Clock
Thursday night. The town was very
quiet. The cheers Of the crowd,
when the first flames shot up, min
eled with the piercing cries of the
negro, and after the fire had burn
ed for an hour and the body was moth
ing but a crisp, the crowd again
cheered. Then it dispersed.
While the majority of those who
gathered about to witness the black
mans death were men, there were
many women in the crowd.
A remarkable feature Of the af-
fair was that while the crowd was
determined upon the death of the ne
gro. it was far more quiet than US
ual under similar conditions. Not a
shot was fired. The escape OF the
negro, following his arrest, seemed
to add to the fury Of the searchers
for the black man.
Talk about town, following the
lyncbing, bears the message or the
negro that he was "the right man
AS whispered from lip to lip, come a
brief confession, made as he was LED
to his funeral pyre.