Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1884 — HANGED FOR HIS CRIME [ARTICLE]

HANGED FOR HIS CRIME

A Business Man at LaCrosse, Wis., Murdered by a Dastardly Ruffian. The People Break the Jail, Take Out the Assassin, and Show Him No ’Mercy. [La Crosse (Wls.) special.] F. A. Burton, President of the Blaine an t Logan Club here, was shot dead by a ruffian named Nathaniel Mitchell, but generally known as "Scotty," at 8 o’clock this evening, while the Republicans were forming in nrocession on Main street. Seven shots were tired in quick succession, Tne murderer was arrested and hurried to jail before the immense crowd could realize what had occurred. As soon as the fact was made known there was the most intense excitement, and hundreds of men in uniform, and carrying torches hurried to the Court Hou-e yard and demanded that the prisoner be handed over to them. Sheriff Scott, Chief ot Police Clark, and a posse ot police at the jail door tried to calm the infuriated multitude. At 13:30 p. m. the officers were not able to stay the mob, which refused to listen to argument. From 9 o’clock to 10 the Court House yard and square presented a scene ot great fury. The mob increased In numbers until the entire space on three sides of the jail was a dense mass of humanity, demanding that the murderer be hung. The torches of the men Hared above the sea of heads, and the white plumes moved resolutely about the square. The best citizens in the place were present, and watched the fearful scene with blanched laces, but with no expression of sympathy. Tlhere were hundreds of women in the thoroughfares and the walks about the Jail. The excitement grew steadily in force, and the demand at last found leaders with cool heads, who went methodically about taking the man from prison and lynching him. Beams were procured, and in a short time the heavily bolted and barred doors on the Fourth street side of the jail were battered in by the crowd, who poured into the first-fioo* rooms. The sheriff and assistants succeed in clearing the room the firstand second time, but on the third rush the mob overpowered them and held its ground. The interior wooden doors of the cooking department yielded like so many pieces of plate glass. In the meantime the heavy oak door leading to the main stairway on the west side was battered down, and the crowd was placed in full possession of the main corridor. While this was going on the crowd became almost colossal about the place, but aside from the rush or the men at the jail the best of order prevailed. There were no drunken men in the mob, the whole work being done by resolutefellows who decided to make the murderer pay the death penalty before they left the square. Once in the corridor, sledge-hammeis wereused to break in the .heavy iron doors, two in number, that intervened between there and the cell-room. These soon yielded, and as each advance was made the crowd on the outside was apprised, and constant cheers of encouragement went up. The prisoner had been confined in ci 11 No. 3 on the lower corridor, and the crowd had little trouble in finding him He was taken from the cell and dragged into the yard. He was identified as the man who did the shooting. and the officers, when appealed to, declared they had the right man. W hen he appeared from the jail-door, held up by the men who had him in charge, there was a long, peculiar yell that went through the trees and streets, maxing every one for blocks away realize without further assurance that the awful retribution had been completed. Numerous men were soon climbing to the branches of the trees, and in a minute a tree was selected. A rope was thrown to a man sitting on the tir-t strong limb. He quickly attached it, and everything was made ready for the execution. At this point in the proceedings there was a pause. Among the leaders were some whe wanted the murderer to make a statement, while others, more impetuous, urged immediate action. The murderer declined to say anything except that he was the man who shot Burton. At this juncture the cry went round “Pull him up 1” “Hang him!” “Don’t let him live a minute longer.” It was understood that the Light Guard Company of the Third Regiment Wisconsin National Guards had been ordered out to charge the mob, and there was an impression that the execution would be prevented. The mob seized the rope and made a strong pull, but the ruffian freed his hands and the rope broke before he was raised from the ground. In less than five minutes a new rope was thrown over the heads ot the crowd and fell within a few feet of the executioner. This was adjusted, the prisoner’s hands and arms firmly tied, and in another moment he was hanging in the air with his face closely pressed against the limb of the tree. The scenes of the night will probably never be experienced again in LaCrosse. Words fail to express the darkness and intensity of the gloom that has settled like a pall over the community, '■ not only for the fearful act of the assassin, which has taken away one of the best and most highly esteemed young men of Wisconsin, but for the bloody incidents th&t succeeded. The body of the/loomed man was left hanging only a few minutes when it was taken down lifeless and left in charge of the Sheriff.

When the excitement was at the highest and the first successful rush had been made on the jail door the fire bells rang out an alarm which was made general, and this, added to the steady roll of voices from the direction of the Court House, made the night one of awful features. What citizens first thought was an alarm for help at the court-yard or a rallying signal by the mob proved to be a genuine alarm, and the department was called to extinguish a burning workshop and storehouse connected with the Northwestern foundry and machine shops. The tire was soon extinguished, and that part of the crowd which had been drawn from the scene of the lynching returned again to the Court House Square, where they remained until the last act was completed. The body of Mr. Burton was taken immediately after the murder to the drug store of T. H. Spence, where an examination showed life to be extinct, every shot having taken effect. Those who stood near the scene of the murder say the man advanced fromtbe crowd on the sidewalk to within a few feet of his victim and fired the first bullet into his back. Mr. Burton fell to the pavement, and the murderer followed with six shots into his body and head. He then threw the revolver at his victim and gave him a kick, saying: “That is the son of a that knows me anti that I have been looking for,” or words to that effect. All this was done in a moment’s time and before any one oould realize what had happened. The body of Mr. Burton was removed from the drug store to his home during the evening. One bullet passed through the head, two through the lungs, and two into the abdomen, any one 01 which would have been fatal. In searching for a motive for the act the only plausible theory that is yet advanced is that two years ago, when Mr. Burton was acting surveyor sf customs at this port, this man was frequently importuning for a hospital certificate so that he could spend his time at the hospital at the expense of the river men. Mr. Burton told him to go to work and stop drinking, and he would not need the benefits of the marine physician. Another theory is that Mitchell thought he was killing another man. Mr. Burton was a broker and commission, merchant. The motive of the murderer is not known. He is said to have been a desperate character, who has followed the river for a living. He has served a term in the State’s prison. After throwing the first revolver at his victim it was found that he had another in his pocket, but tie was arrested before he had an opportunity to use it. The Republicans were to have celebrated the Ohio victory to-night with a parade, fireworks, and speeches, but the scene changed to me of terrible excitement of a far different character.