Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1890 — JUST RETRIBUTION. [ARTICLE]

JUST RETRIBUTION.

A Fiendish Wife Murderer Hanged—The Sensation of a Year Ago. Richard Hawes, the wife murderer, was hanged at 12:30 o’clock, at Birmingham, Ala , on the 28th ult. His neck was broken by the fall. The crime for which Richard Hawes paid the penalty 'with his life was the murder of his wife and two children, May and Irene. On Tuesday morning, December 4, ISBB, the body of May was found floating in an artificial lake at East Lake, a pleasure resort, six miles from Birmingham, but it was not identified until the next day. Tho discovery led to still further investigation, and tho residence of Hawes was visited by several persons, who found the place deserted and evidences that a horrible crime had been committed. There were blood stains on the floor and walls,and in a corner of one of the rooms a bloody club was found. On the same day it was learned that Hawes bad been married to Miss May Storey at Columbus, Miss. He was arrested the same night while passing through Birmingham on his way to Georgia to spend his honeymoon. He identified the body of his child, but stated that he had been divorced from his wife, and she had gone away. The children, he said, had been placed in a convent at Mobile, and he was at a loss to understand how May’s body came to be found whore it was. The palpable improbability of such a story convinced those who heard his statement that he had murdered the rest of the family. By the direction of the coroner the lake was drained, and the bodies of Mrs. Hawes and little Irene, heavily weighted with railroad iron, were found on the bottom. The finding of Mrs. Hawes’ corpse inflamed the public mind to a state of frenzy. All efforts of the press of tho South and the county authorities to allay the excitement were futile. The jail was stormed by 10,000 persons, determined to lynch tho murderer. The sheriff ordered them to halt, hut the mob replied with cries of derision and pressed forward. The order was |iveu to the guard to firo and a volley resulted in the ,killing of ten persons and the wounding of many more. The spirit of the mob was broken and it never returned to the attack, contrary to the ex pectation of the authorities, who had in tho meantime telegraphed to the governor for militia. The trial of Hawes began on April 26, and lasted eleven days. The jury returned a verdict of guilty with the death penalty after two hours’ deliberation.