Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 October 1881 — A MURDERER LYNCHED. [ARTICLE]

A MURDERER LYNCHED.

A Prisoner in tiae Bloomington fill. Jails Murders the Jailer—The Murderer Seized and Executed by a Howling Meh. Bloomington, DL, Oct 8. About 6:30 o’clock Saturday evening three discharges of a revolver following each other in rapid succession were heard in the county jaiL Then the people on the street to cry, “ Police! police !" and run toward the jail building, at the corner of Center and Mar; ket streets. Immediately tumor prevailed that the prisoners had obtained pistols, had killed the Sheriff and Jailer, and were making their escape. The fact was, a prisoner named Charles Pierce, a horse thief, had murdered Teddy Franks, the County Jailer. Franks, while changing the prisoner, Pierce alias HowletL . from one cell to another, was murdered in cold blood by Pierce, who seized the jailer’s revolver from Franks’ hip pocket, shooting him three times and killing him instantly. The third shot, a large ball, went clear through the body. Within a few moments after this tragedy had occurred, a large number of people had gathered in front of the north door of the jail, within which tho body of Teddy Franks was lying stark in death. Walking among the people, you could hear mon say: “ This is too bad! This comes from the failure of our courts to punish crime. He ought to be hung.” “ Don’t stir up a mob!” a law-and-order man would say. “ Let the law take its course.” “The law be cursed,” was the reply. “ There is no law against murder and other crime in McLean county. He ought to be hanged.” Then some one cried : “Let us take him out!” Cheers followed this, and other voices cried : “ Take him out!” After an hour’s excitement; a rush was made and the work of breaking into the jail was commenced. For iwo hows the mob worked at the jail with six sledge hammers and battering rams made of great pieces of timber. Sheriff Alor and his deputies and the city police soon ascertained that they could do nothing to restrain the reckless men and boys who com* posed the assaulting crowd. Fully 6,000 pereons were in the howling, yelling multitude. At last the mob gained admittance to the jail, secured the murderer of Franks, took him to a tree on Market street, near the northeast corner of Center and Market, put a rope around his neck, threw one end across a branch and pulled the culprit up. One of the mob climbed up the tree and out upon the branch to which the murderer was hanging, and, amid the cheers of the delighted people, pulled the hanging body up three or four feet and let it drop “Pull him up higher!” the crowd would cry. The man on the branch would comply with the request and let the body drop with a dull thud, while the savage crowd’ would cheer and laugh. The knot had slipped behind the head of the corpse, and the head was thrown forward. The eyes stared and the pale face turned from side to side,, a spectacle which the maddened crowd seemed to enjoy. It cheered and yelled and shouted : “ There’s law for you!” “ Curse the courts !” was cried here and there. At last the man on the branch caught the rope, slipped down it, threw his legs around the neck of the corpse and lumped to the ground. The crowd seemed to be delighted by this feat. It cheered and yelled and shouted. About that time rain began to fall, though the great crowd lingered about, wading in the mud and, by streaming gaslight, viewing the dangling murderer. When the murderer was raised the first time. Officer Bailey, of the police force, imperiled his life by running in, cutting the rope and letting Pierce fall to the. ground. In attempting to repeat it he came near being killed. A large number - of people climbed on top of a shed to witness the execution, when the building went crashing to the ground. S.rangoly, nt>ne were seriously hurt. After thirty minutes the murderer ijas eut down and the Coroner took charge of the body. The lynchers had a keg of gunpowder ready with which to blow up the jail if they failed to batter it down. All day yesterday (Sunday) the wrecked jail and the building in which lay the remains of the lynched man were the center of attraction. Thousands visited the jail, looked at the wrecked doors, windows and brickwork, at the terriblo blood stains on the floor and on the counterpane on which Franks died, and which was saturated with the bright and vivid crimson of arterial blood. The remains of Pierce lay in a box of ice at the undertaker’s, and a constant stream passed in at the front door and out at the back. The fatal rope was around his neck. The face was livid with coagulated blood, which extended down to the center of the chest, yet tho face wore a peaceful expression. Many ladies fainted at the sight. At least 5,000 persons viewed the remains. A card was tacked on the elm tree, on which the following was written: “Bloomington, McLean County, Ill.— Axman, axman, spare this tree, and never touch a single bough, and may God spare this elm tree forever to grow to mark where the first justice, a murder, ever was done m McLean county, and may the good people stand by the boys that did it.” While all deprecate the method by which the end was attained, there seems to be no regret whatever that the murderer met his death.