Imperial Valley press., 1935-08-03
PROSECUTION
Of LYMCHERS
THREATENED

YREKA, Calf, Aug. 3. U.D -
William Mellon, undersheriff of
Siskiyou county, said today that
every effort would be made to iden-
tify and prosecute members of the
mob who lynched e. L. johnson, "a,
Staying suspect.
II shall do everything in my
power to identify members of the
mob and to present information
and evidence before the grand
jury" Mellon said.
He is in charge of the county's
law enforcement during the illness
of Sheriff w. c.. Chandler.
Mellon said that thus far mo
member of the lynching party has
been identified"
Thu members of the mob wore
white handkerchiefs as masks
when they seized johnson from the
county Jail, abducted Deputy Sher-
tiff Martin Lange and took the pri-
soner to a pine tree three miles
outside of the town.
AS Lange was taken to a point IS
miles from town before being re-
leased his captors also would be
subject to kidnapping charges if
identified.
AS the mob surged through the
Jail seeking johnson, frightened
prisoners hid trembling in their
cells, fearing they might be mis-
taken for the mobs quarry, &C
cording to Melons account.
Got Right Man
johnson was in a first floor
cell, but they missed him for a
time" said j. Mellon. "They went
to the second floor where Don
English, another prisoner, was held.
They looked over the trembling
English. No, this amt the man.
Then they looked at two In
dians in another cell and said, He
amt in here, either and went to
Johnson's cell.
"They said, This is the -
grabbed him and took him away.
There wasn't much of a scuffle.
Meanwhile, though, the other
prisoners were pretty scared and
we're trying to keep out of sight,
because they thought the mob
might make a mistake.
But they got the man they
wanted, all right"
Deputy Sheriff Martin Lange,
lone man on duty at the time, was
tortured by the mob, he said, when
he refused to tell them where the
keys of the Jail were kept, but he
never told.
"a ruse took Ed Mathews, the
regular night jailer, away earlier in
the night on a call to Mt. Shasta, "
Lange said. Someone told him
that Johnsons partner could be
captured there.
"At 1:30 someone rang the bell
on the jail's outer door. I opened
it. A shiny, nickel-plated gun was
showed into my face. Behind it was
a man with a white mask.
Deputy Roughly Treated
HE rushed in. Other came rush
ing in after him showing the door
back and poking guns at me from
every direction. They tied my
wrists, bound me with ropes. They
had lot of quarter-inch rope.
They tried to make me tell where
the keys to the jail were. wouldn't
tell.
"They twisted and yanked the
rope and jerked me around, try
ing to force that out of me.
II saw them head for the safe.
They probably thought the keys
were there. Half of them were still
looking for the keys when the
others threw me into car and
drove to Montague-four miles
from here.
There, they turned me onto the
loose gravel road and drove IA
miles to Granada. They took my
shoes away Tnd dumped me out.
It was difficult getting passing
autos to stop. 1 tried several. They
wouldn't stop, thinking I was a
holdup man, I guess. I even blew
my police whistle, but nobody
came.
"Then, barefooted, I walked over
the rough gravel road to several
houses around there, but nobody
would give me help. So went back
to the highway, blowing my whistle
all the time, until somebody came
and drove me back to Yreka."