Norwich bulletin., 1920-02-10
Lexington, Ky, is
 Under Martial Law
To Prevent Mob Getting a Ne gro Who Has Confessed Murder and Been Sentenc- ed to Die March II.

ed to Die March II.
 Lexington, Ky, Feb. s.-Martial law prevails here tonight, with 600 fed eral and state troops patrolling the streets to prevent further rioting which during the day exacted a toll of four dead and fifteen wounded. mThe city was quiet early tonight, but l authorities fear recurrence of vio- lence Five hundred additional Unit ed States troops are en route from Camp Taylor, Ky.
 Lexington and all of Fayette county was placed under martial law at 31 clock by Brigadier General F C. Marshall upon his arrival from Camp Taylor with 300 troops of the famous Flrst Division, which helped repuIse the Germans at Chateau Thierry. Rloting began this morning when a | mob bent upon lynching William Lock- ett, negro, who confessed to the mur- der last week of ten year old Geneva Hardman, was fired upon with rifles ana machine guns by state militiamen as it stormed the Fayette County courthouse during the negro's trial. The attempt to lynch Loekett was made just after he had confessed to the murder and as the jury found him guilty Of murder in the first degree. He l was sentenced to die in the electric | chair March Il.
 l The shooting temporarily dispersed 1 the mob and gave the authorities time 1 to rush Lockett to a secret place of 1 safety. The mob reformed, however and footed pawn shops and hardware stores to get fire arms.
 l Fearing an attack upon the 300 na- 1 tional guardSmen on duty. the authori ties appealed to Governor Morrow for assistance. As result, 300 federal troops, members of the Twenty Sixth and Twenty Eighth Infantry, arrived I at three o'cock on a special train from Camp Taylor
 They Immediately began the work of patrolling the streets to keep the crowds from congregating.
 Lockett, arrested last Tuesday night. ] and held in the state penitentiary at Frankfort for safe keeping, was in ! dicted late last week and was brought here on a special train this morning TOT trlal, He was heavily guarded
 Hundreds Of farmers from the sur- rounding country arrived early to att tend the trial, and sullenly watched the prisoner as he was marched from the tran to the courthouse between lines of state troopers. When the trial opened, the courtroom was crowded to capacity. Everyone was searched for firearms before being admitted to the courthouse.
 Hundreds were unable to gain ad- mittance to the courtroom and con- gregated in the street in front of the courthouse. The cry Let's get him. from farmer on the outskirts of the crowd turned the crowd into a mob which began surging toward the en- trance to the building. Soldiers and po- 4 lice -droPpedi back into close formation and trained their guns on the mob. 1 which never hesitated
 Ad1utant General Deweese. in com mand Of the militiamen, shouted Q final warning to the crowd and then fired ! a revolver into the air. It was the signal for the troops to fire.
 Soldiers and police fired pointblank 1 into the crowd and nearby machine gun rattled. From the windows of the
 courthouse above another hail of bull
 lets spattered down on the ashphalt
 street.
 Four men fell at the first volley.
 The mob, which had surged half way
 up the steps, pressed back and broke,
 Quick action on the part of the au-
 thorities got the negro out of the Those killed in the clash were B. F.
 Carrier and L. M- King. both of Lex lngton, and John Thomas and William l Ellington, both of Versailles Among l the wounded was Mrs. E. T. Cross. B Rolled in it's first attempt to get the } prisoner, the mob broke up into small crowds which paid hurried visits to all l or the pawn shops and hardware stores
 in the city in a quest for firearms Tn some stores as many as fifty or sixty ? feVolVerS and guns were seized The word that regular army troops were coming spread rapidly, however
 and no further violence was attempt-
 ed
 Lockett's arrest.s indictment, triai
 and sentence sets new record for
 rapidity in Kentucky. He was arrest ed last Tuesday night indicted on
 Friday and was tried, found guilty
 ana sentenced in few minutes to-
 day. Under his sentence he will die
 in the electric chair March II.
 l The little Hardman girls body was
 found mutilated in a cornfield last
 Tuesday morning soon after she had
 left her home for school Her head had
 been crushed in with a stone and her
 body partially covered with corn
 stalks.
 Locketd, recently discharged from
 the army, was suspected and posses
 were formed immediately to look for
 hlm He was found at the home of a
 friend six miles from the scene of
 the murder late that night. Police an-
 nounced that the negro had confess ed to the murder. adding that he did
 not know why he had killed the girl.
 It became known tonight that Lock ett was not taken out of the court house and that he is confined there under heavy guard. During the excite ment the impression prevailed that he
 had been taken out of the city.
 He will be removed to the state rA. 1 formatory at Frankfort or to the state penitentiary at Eddyville, as quick ly as possible
 i Knots of men gathered on the streets tonight and discussed the days 1 events. Their temper apparently had
 cooled and fhere was no indication that they would resort again to law | lessness.
 Rurors that a band of 1,309 snoun- l taineers from Breathitt couny, heavily armed, were on a train bound for Lexington and would make an effort | to seize the negro were discredited by Brigadier General Marshall. A sur vey of the passengers on the train supposed to be carrying the noun l tain men showed only normal num- 1 Der aboard, military men said. Twelve outposts of troops are on l duty in the warehouse district tonight |