Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1903 — NEGRO DIES AT THE STAKE. [ARTICLE]

NEGRO DIES AT THE STAKE.

Delaware Mob Burn* Girl’* Stayer After Orerpowering Jail Guard*. Fired by ministers of the go«i>el and the women of Wilmington, Del., George White, a negro, accused of attacking and murdering Miss , Helen S,- Bishop, was taken from the' Newcastle workhouse Monday night, after a fierce battle with the guards in which several men were ■hot, and tied to a stake and burned. The .negro confessed and was shot fall of bullets as he was burning at tlhe •take. Four of the citizens who took White from the workhouse were shot, one fatally. , Following the verdict of the coroner’s jury moba gathered in the streets of Wilmington throughout the afternoon and night. Finally, 4,000 strong, the mob marched, singing and cheering, toward the worklhoute, about a mile and a half outside the city. There was no demonstration on the part of the mob when the police arrived. The crowd seemed to be holding back, waiting for the leadership of some person still expected. Suddenly up the roadway, galloping swiftly, came half a dozen horsemen. They dismounted and soon they had organized several squads of men armed with heavy railroad ties. With a rush and a whoop squad after (quad charged upon the workhouse door with the improvised battering ram. The doors crashed in and the moh charged Into the hallway. The police then drew their revolvers and fired into the crowd. But the mob paid no attention to clubs or bullets. The police were carried off their feet and knocked down, trampled npon and the mob passed over /them into the corridors of the jail. It was shortly before midnight when they had located the cell where White was confined. Swinging lanterns, they peered in and made sure of the negro’s identification. He fell on his knees, •creaming piteouriy for mercy. With a noose around his neck and the mob of thousands at his heels the negro was started toward Price’s Corners, the scene of his attack upon Helen Bishop. There on the spot where the girl’s mutilated body was found had already been erected a great pile of pine kindling and straw, and to a stake driven in the middle of this the negro was tied. The whole pyre was saturated with kerosene and then the torch was applied. When he found that his case was hopeless the negro confessed the deed and did not spare himself in telling It. The flames leaped up and reached the man’s hands. Suddenly the ropes on .hie legs parted and he sprang from the fire. A man struck him on the head with a fence rail and knocked him down. Others threw him back into the flames.