The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-05-06
Alleged Confession of One Was
Death Warrant for Others.
Murder and Assault of a White
Girl Said To Be Confessed.
HESITATED OVER BURNINGS
Mob of 500 at KirYin, Texas, at
Last Said "AH Must Co."
FInaI Two Cremated Screamed
TEeir Innocence to Last.
tBy the Associated Pressl

Kirvin. Tex. May 6--Three negroes
were burned to death at the same
stake here at o'clock this morning
by a mob of 500 determined men fol-
lowing their alleged implication in the
criminal assault and murder of II
year-old Eula Awsley. white girl
whose mutiIated body was found near
here Thursday night
He Implicated Others.
Snap" Curry. the first negro
burned. was taken from the custody
of Freestone county officers earlier IN
the night as he was being conveyed
II ON Wortham to some point west 1t
IS alleged that he confessed to the
mob that he had assaulted and muir
dered the girl and that IN mis- confes-
sion he implicated two otner negroes.
J. H. Varney and Nose Jones.
The mob divested the Sheriff or ms
KEYS to the Freestone county jail,
where Jones and Narney were being
held as suspects. Hurrying to the jail,
the mob unlocked the doors and TOOK
the two negroes in charge
Burned i'm Heart of City.
All three negroes were then rushed
to Kirvin the home of the dead girl,
and an iron stake driven into the
ground on a small square in the heart
Of the town. Wood was accumulated
and saturated with oil TO increase its
inrammabiltty.
Curry was burned first. Then
Narney and Jones There was some
delay in burning the last two, in as
much as they steadfastly maintained
their innocence
Third degree methods failed to
bring a Confession from them, and
they were finally cremated on the
strenetta-of-C -CSGrFaz's- -teStiH ony.--a-
After the third negro had been
burned to crisp all three bodies were
piled together and mass of fuel and
oil flung over them.
Burned the Funeral Pyre.
This was ignited. the flames soaring
twenty-five or thirty feet in the air.
AT an early hour today the flames
were still burning fiercely, with the
prospect that the bodies would be
burned to ashes.
The mob rapidly dispersed, and as
day dawned there were only a few
persons remaining to witness the
aftermath of the triple burning.
Burned in Front of Church.
All three negroes were employed on
the farm of j. T. King, prominent
farmer of this community and grand
father of the dead girl with whom she
lived. both her parents being dead.
Mr.. King was present at the crema-
tion and the mob leaders are said TO
have obtained his approval thereof
before lighting the torches
The lynchings were carried out de-
1iberately. There was no discharge of
AlEeaTrnS- II was reported however
that the bodies of the negroes were
mutiiated before being tied to the
stake. With the exception of a few
shouts and the screams of the con-
demned men. there was little to dis
turb the early morning quiet of this
backwoods community
The incinerations took place on
small open plot directly in front of
two small churches One OF the ne
grOeS died singing church anthem.
Inflicted 2S Knife Wounds.
Kirvin is a town of about 500 in
habftant, situated in Freestone
east central Texas about eighty miles
south of Dallas. Mr.. King resides at
Kirvfn.
Miss Awsley was riding her horse
home from the school which she at
tended several miles from Kirvin late
Thursday when she was attacked
Her body was later found near the
road with twenty-three knife wounds
inflicted in the head, neck and chest.
News of the murder spread quickly
and late Thursday a band of several
hundred men from Freestone and
Limestone counties, and large sher-
ifs posse were securing the neigh
borhOod. Curry was arrested when his
wife told officers he had come home
with his clothes covered with blood
on the night of the murder. Curry
was taken to Wortham and impris-
ffcers spirited the prisoner thru rear
window and started with him in an
automobile toward Mexia apparently
en- route to Waco, but resistance
seemed useless.
The prisoner was surrendered.