Democratic Sentinel, Volume 21, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1897 — INDIANA LYNCH LAW. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA LYNCH LAW.

DETAILS OF THE RIPLEY COUNTY AFFAIR. Summary Punishment Visited Upon a Gang of Evil Characters—People Tire of an Extended Series of Criminal Acts—Gov. Monnt Indignant Deed r»f Infuriated Mob. The lynching of the five Osgood men at Versailles, the county seat of Ripley County, has. perhaps. no parallel in the history of Indiana. The prisoners were confined in the county jail on the charge of burglary. They all resided in the town of Osgood, and were supposed to belong to an organized band of thieves and highwaymen which has been robbing and terrorizing the citizens of Ripley County for a number of years. They were rwaiting trial for having attempted to break into the general store of Wooley Bros, at Correct Saturday night. Gordon and Andrews were captured at the time after a running fight, and after each had been severely wounded. The other prisoners were detained on the charge of having assisted in the attempted burglary, and whose guilt seemed evident. Public feeling had been aroused against the prisoners because they had so often escaped the penalties of the law. Sheriff Henry Bushing and wife were away from home. He had been badly wounded while trying to capture the men Saturday night, and the jail was in charge of his brother-in-law, W. T. Kennen, turnkey, and William Black. At 12:45 o’clock they were aroused by the ringing of the door bell. Kennen and Black went down and opened the door. Three masked men with a revolver in each hand confronted them. Tlie lender said: “Hold up your hands! We demand the keys of the jail.’’ Kennen looked into the muzzles of six revolvers, and after some, resistance was taken to the kitchen and found the keys. Kennen and Black were locked in a cell and three men with revolvers made their way through the grating and others went to find the prisoners, who had all retired. In the lower eellrooms were confined Levi, Shuler and Jenkins, and there the visitors proceeded first. Levi was first awakened, and, refusing to throw.up his hau ls at the command of the leader, two pistol shots were heard, and he fell to the floor pierced to the heart. Shuler, lying on his cot, refused to get up, but begged for his life. A stroke upon the head from a heavy stick silenced him, and he rolled to the floor. Jenkins’ fate was similar, and tlie three bodies were carried to the main corridor, and the lynchers made their way upstairs, where Gordon and Andrews were found. They, being wounded, submitted without much effort. Their hands were tied behind them, ropes were placed around their necks and they were dragged down the stairway where their companions lay. Ropes being placed around the necks of all the order was given, “Pull on the ropes, boys, and hurry up.” Hanged to an Elm Tree. Two squares north of the jail on the bluff near the famous “Gordon’s Leap” was found an old elm tree, and to its toughened limbs were hanged the maimed and bruised bodies of the five prisoners, naked and ghastly. The scene was appalling’, and the bodies were soon cut down and covered under the shade of the tree. Hundreds visited the scene the following day, and hardly a twig of the old elm remains, having been carried away by the curious throng. A man named Hostetter a couple of weeks ago had given a tip to the county officials, and through him the men were caught. He said they met and planned at Jenkins’ house, and lie (Jenkins) said he would help them out at any time, but how much, if any, they were implicated will never be known, as they were given no chance to deny or defend themselves. Osgood had grown notorious the last two years on account of the many highway robberies and hold-ups committed there. Last winter an aged couple—Mr. and Mrs. Rineking—living north of town were tortured and robbed while alone at their home. The night of April 1 Mr. and Mrs. Baulkman, living six miles from Osgood, were tortured by three masked men, who demanded their money. They made tlie old lady, who was quite infirm, walk over red-hot coals to tell where her money was. They got nothing but a gun and a few trifles. The latter part of the same month Mr. and Mrs. Kammon of Milan were treated in a similar manner by masked men. The two Dr. Josenhs of Osgood place were arrested, charged with the robbery, but proved an alibi and were acquitted without trouble. Men have been held up on the streets and houses without number broken into the last two years, but it seemed as though the guilty ones could never be caught. How much or how little these men were implicated in these robberies may never be known. Earnest Number Ever Lynched. The hanging is a blot on the name of Ripley County. It is tlie largest number ever hanged at a lynching in the State and only the second rope execution ever in the county. Twenty years ago Tim Boyd of Moore’s Hill, who was in jail for committing an assault, was visited by a mob and seventeen bullets shot into him, but nothing has ever aroused the people like this tragedy. People drove into Versailles from all over the county and groups stood around discussing it. Schools were dismissed and business is at a standstill. The families of the men are almost insane from the shock. The bodies were taken to Osgood and delivered to their several homes. The sheriff received a message from the Governor to use all means in his power to apprehend the men composing the mob. However, it seems that the sheriff is powerless, as no moans of identification of a single man has been obtained. The Governor, realizing this and also that the sympathies of the community seemed with the lynchers, sent Merrill Moores, deputy attorney general, to the scene of the lynching, with instructions to make a full investigation and spare no expense in bringing the lynchers to justice. The Governor condemned the lynching in the strongest terms. He further said in his dispatch to the sheriff: “Such lawlessness is intolerable, and all tlie power of the State will, if necessary, be vigorously employed for the arrest and punishment of all parties implicated.”