The Omaha guide., 1935-08-10
North Carolina Govern
or To Push Lynching
Probe
No Credence Put In Report That
Negroes Were In Mob

Raleigh, N. c., Aug s, (ANP)-
A reward of $40O has been offered by
Governor Ehringhaus for the arrest
and conviction Of parties responsible
for the lynching of Govan Ward, who
ran amuck at Louisburg, N. c., and
killed a 67-year-old white farmer.
In the meantime the chief executive
Of the State is trying to ascertain
just why the officers of Franklin
county were SO dilatory in request
ing help to prevent mob violence and
why it was impossible to recognize
any Of the members Of the mob. al
though they were unmasked.
The governor learned of the lynch
ing through Associated Press reports
and Immediately dispatched troops to
the scene but they arrived too late to
deter the lynchers. They found the
body Of the lynched man suspended
from an oak tree and a crowd of
men and m milling about the
body, expressing approval Of the ac-
ton of the mob and some cutting off
toes and other parts of the body for
souvenirs. In the crowd were many
young women who apparently found
much pleasure in viewing the grue-
some spectacle and in praising the
"hero.sm" of the lynchers.
When the lynching was first re-
ported it was sad that Negroes were
numbered among the mob, but little
credence is being put in the story
and Negro leaders themselves are
pointing to the fact that Negroes
are law-abiding and are willing at
all times to let the law take its
course and to the fact that it was
due to the act of a Negro that the
man, who has been declared insane,
was placed under arrest.
Some of the facts relative to the
lynching that are causing much com
me. mt include:
1. That although it was common
knowledge that mob violence was il
the making, one sheriff and two
deputies attempted to take. the pris.
oner to another county for safe
keeping.
2. That the prisoner was beaten
yer the head with a blackjack by
one of the officers who attempted
to kill him by placing a gun to his
head and pulling the trigger. His
gun had been unbreached when dis
lodged fro mthe holster during a
struggle with the manacled prison
err and the bullets emptied on the
floor of the car, hence it id not fire,
and this officer declared: "I want
ed to kill him then and there but
the others would not let me-"
3. That the officers did not OBJ
serve or attempt to get the numbers
of licenses on any Of the cars, carry
ing lynchers.
4. That the governor was not mott
fled by the officers but instead a
band of 80 special deputies we're as
signed the task of rounding up the
lynchers.
Governor Issues Statement
In discussing the outrage, Governor
Birmingham issued the following
statement: 1.-TWO horrible crimes
have been committed in Franklin
county today. The first by an APP
parently crazed and degenerate in
dividual, the second by a mob of
supposedly responsible citizens. The
first intimation of either occurrence
came to the Governors office, not
through officers Of the law but
through the Associated Press and
this was to the effect that the
wretched defendant had already been
taken from the officers by the mob.
Immediately the Highway Patrol
and the National Guard received or
ders to do all possible to avert a
lynchng. Both acted with the utmost
promptness and dispatch and both
on the scene within a remark
ably brief time, but too late to pre-
vent the last crime. This office also
with the Shsriff Of Franklin county
Immediately sought to get in touch