Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1859 — Lynch Law at Sparta, Illinois. [ARTICLE]

Lynch Law at Sparta, Illinois.

f Tlie citizens qf Sparta, Ran olph county , Illinois, recentiy took the law into their own hiinls, for the purpose ot breaking up a set ■of desperadoes that had for some months infested t e place. Th y attempted to arrest tlie ring-leader Gus Graham, but he resisted, apd they shot him dead on the spot. They then took two ot his associates —men burned 1J utchings and Bevel, huhg them both till they were black in the lace, and then let tljem down to contess. Bevel cun ess.d to a°number of crin es, and tiifcy having thus secured the evidence oi his own conviction, handed him over to the civel authorities. Hutchings was more plucky and refused to i confess, so they whipped him.and let him go. ! ; O^7”A despatch from Vicksburgit, M'ss. of July 1. says that about lour o'cloi k on the ntorning oi that day some scoundrels ignited j atkeg of powder that had previously been j placed under the Court House at Pori Gib- * in aini about half of the building was blown j tri atoms. i’ne Sheriff's office adjoining, i w|:s also destroyed, riind his v.itrit robbed of, iu .$10,090. The occupanfs oi the build-j ail escaped uninjured. The damage to J tile bu-iiding is estimated at from SIO,OOO to' $ I 2,000. No out* his yet been discovered j t,jf-tii ■ -trator.- >i tins he-'disli act. '