Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-05-07
MOB Of 900 At
k|RV!N, TEXAS,
BURNS 8 BLACKS
Victims Are Alleged to Have
Been Implicated in Grim
inaI Assault and Murder
of 17-Year-0ld Girl.
(By The Associated Press.)

hil VIM LA, may Wy tiO AS-
sociated Press) Three negroes
were burned to death at the same
stake here at o'clock this morn
ing by mob of 500 men following
their alleged implication in the
criminal assault and murder Of IL
iyear-old Eulss Awsley, white girl,
whose mutilated body was found
near here Thursday night.
All three negroes were employed
on the farm of j. 7. King, promi-
nent farmer of this community and
grandfather of the dead girl, with
whom she lived. both her parents
being dead. Mr.. King was present
at the cremation and the mob lead
ers are said to have obtained his
approval thereof before lighting
the torches.
Lynchings Were Orderly.
The lynchings were carried out
| in orderly fashion. There was no
discharge of firearms nor was any
undue violence attempted although
| it is understood the bodies of the
negroes were mutilated before be-
ing tied to the stake. With the ex-
ception of a few shouts and the
screams of the condemned men
there was little to disturb the early
morning quiet OF the backwoods
community. The incineration took
place on q small open plot directly
in front of two small churches. One
of the negroes is said to have died
singing a church anthem.
Kfrvin is town of about 500 in
habitants. situated in Freestone
county, east central Texas, about
eighty miles south of Dallas.
Mr.. King resides at Kirvin.
Miss Awsley was riding her
horse home from the school which
she attended several miles from
Kirvin late Thursday when she was
attacked Her body later was
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 hun
dred men from Freestone and
Limestone counties and large
sheriff's posse were securing the
neighborhood. "Snapp" Curry, the
first negro to be led to the stake,
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 I'M
prisoned in a bank for safe keep
ing where it is alleged that he
confessed to the mob that he had
assaulted the girl and that in his
confession he implicated two other
negroes, j. H. Yarney and Nose
Jones. He was taken from the
sheriff as he was being conducted
to another town for safety. A mob
gathered about and threatened to
storm the building whereupon Of
ficers spirited the prisoner through
q rear window and started VILE
him in an automobile toward
Mexia, apparently en- route TO
Waco. Resistance seemed Useless
and the prisoner was surrendered.
Take KEYS From Sheriff.
The mob divested the sheriff or
his keys to the Freestone county
jail, where Jones and Varney we're
being held as suspects. unlocked
the doors and there took the other
two negroes in charge. All three
we're then rushed to Kirvin, the
home of the dead girl, where the
execution took place at an iron
stake driven into the ground on
a small square in the heart OF the
town.
Wood saturated with oil to IN
crease its inflammability was piled
about the stake.
Curry was burned first. Then
Varney and Jones. There was some
delay in burning the last two as
they steadfastly maintained their
innocence but they were finally
cremated on the strength of Curry's
testimony.
After the third negro had been
burned to a crisp. all three bodies
were piled together and mass of
fuel and oil flung over them. 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 prospects that the bodies
would be reduced to ashes. The
1,1ob disnercad rapidlv