Year: 1859

Trespondence Of the 81 Paul min. Pioneer.


BILLIE PLAIN, Dee. 29.-From q party of
gentlemen just in from the town of Lexington,
LIE Sueur county, learn that Charles Rein
hart, the man committed for the murder of
Mr.. Bodell, some two months since was
lynchsd and executed by a mob, on the dav
before yesterday. The particulars, as related
10 me by one OF the gentlemen, are as follows


On Monday last, shortly after noon, a mob
OF about sixty men, who reported themselves
as belonging to Rice county, and com possd
principally Of Irish, Germans and half. breeds
drove into the town of Lexington in a body and
Immediately sought out Mr.. Kirkland the
deputy sheriff Of LIE Sueur county, under
whose charge the prisoner had been pls ed for
safe keeping. To him they stated their inten-
ton Of lynching Reinhart tas they stated to
prevent his escape from justice) and demanded
the Key to the building in which he was con-
fined. In this they met with q prompt and
peremptorily refusal from Mr.. K, who imme.
distely stationed himself in front of the door Of
the ouiidlng Tor its better protection. But the
MOP had come for q specific purpose, and, hay-
ing might on their side, were not to be tbwart-
cd. Several OF them seized III OF Mr. K, and,
after herce and protracted struggle, during
which the sheriff is said to have defended him.
self and his prisoner with great courage, the
key was taken from him while he was being
held upon the ground by force of numbers.


During the time that this was going on out
SIDE, the prisoner had learned the cause of the
melee, and what would be his probable fate
should they succeed in effecting an entrance.
since his late attempt to escape from custody,
ne mao been donbly secured by pair of close
hitting handouts around bis wrists and band
around one of his ankles, by which he was
fastened to the floor with strong chain, and
heavy wrought iron staple, made of haIf.ipcb
Iron Upon hearing the mob approach, be
stripped the msnacles over his hands, taking
the nesh and skin with them and then in his
frenzy, and by an exertion which must have
been almost superhuman, be tore the staple in
two above where it entered the floor. Thus in
a manner freed, he took one of the legs from
on large stove which stood in his room. and
awaited their coming


The building in which he was confined was
constructed Of large hewn logs. firmly mt to-
getner lie ceiling was composed of the same
material, ABOUT q foot through, and placed side
by side, close as they could be laid. Above
this, the outside was merely boarded up with
ordinary lumber, and the whole covered over
with shingle roofing. There was but one door
In the building, and that was situated imme-
diateiy In one corner, while a small opening
through the logs about two feet long and n
loot wide, with heavy bars Of iron running
-Perpendicularly and sunk in logs in the front
was the only window.


The key once in their possession, the mob
fancied the prisoner an easy victim to tbsir
murderous design. But it appears that in this
they were disappointed; for upon opening the
door tney found Reinhart standing by its side,
aud between it and the window. welding the
piece of iron which he had taken from the
stove, and threatening death to any one who
dared 70 come into the room. Thus he stood
tor the space of an hour and a half. defying
the entire mob, and not a man Of them dared
to enter where he was. Finding no way by
which they could cripple him from the outside,





slantwise through the bar Of a small window
by his side, in which manner they succeeded
In bfusing him considerably, and inflicted a
cash over his right eye. They tore of the
boards from one gable Of the building, and the
shingles from q portion of the roof, and with
an axe cut through ;he logs that separated the
upper from the lower portion of the isil, in
tending doubtless so to cripple him from above
that those below might enter the door and Sc
cure him.


Just as this was accomplished, the prisoner
ieiI doHn In swOon, and thus became an easy
prey He was Immediately placed upon a
sled and driven some three-quarters of a mile
from the Jail, and then while in a state of in
sensibillty, one end Of the rope was placed
about his neck and thrown over the limb of n
tree, and he was swung into the air. Through
some negligence, however, the moose slipped
round under his chin, and he was again let
down TO the ground. Having by this time re-
'Nou iIOm MS s"oon, ne was asked II he had
anything to gay. He again, as he had con-
stantly done while defending himself from the
mob asserted his innocence of the crime for
which he was about to suffer; ard asked that a
prayer might be offered up in his behalf. This
was dune by an exhorter who chanced TO be in
the vicinity, (most Of the lynchers kneeling
during the ceremony and then, with the as.
sertiOn of innocence still upon his lips, he was
once more drawn into the air, and so allowed
TO remain until life was extinct, victim of ILL
advised and unwarrantsble justice if guilty. a
martyr to popular fury if innocent, and in the
eyes Of the law, 3 murdered man under any
circumstances.


After the execution, hole was dug in the
ground some two feet deep, and bis body, un-
eofined and unshrouded, was thrown into IL
and covered over with dirt. This accomplished,
the mob departed for town, and returned to
their homes.