Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1893 — FOUR OF A KIND. [ARTICLE]

FOUR OF A KIND.

Quadruple Execution at Chestertown, Maryland. Goße From the Biting Frost and Snow No More to Murder Hero Below. Four negroes named Brooks, Comegys. Williams, and Brown, were "hanged at Chestertown, Md., Friday, for the murder of Dr. James H. Hill during the campa gn of last year. The crime was the result oi a long standing feud. Fifteen negroes were at first arrested and eight were eon victed at the trial in October, and sen tenced to suffer the death penalty. The four negroes who were hanged were the principals in the assassination. Foui boys, three of whom were sixteen and on< thirteen years of age. aided them. Op »c: count of iheir youth, and because lie Believed an octet hanging would be a blemish on the States’s escutcheon, Governo) Brown commuted theii sentence to Jm prlsonmcnt for life. Thecauses which let to tho assassination began several year ago. The origin was a quarrel in which neither the negroes nor Dr. Hi 1 were in any way interested. Great ereitemeni had prevailed, and it was Intensified by the clemency of the Governor. The street of the little city were almost entirely deserted, except by the posse summonod a couple of days ago by Sheriff Plummer The scene In the city court-house, however, was quite different from that on th' streets. The rooms in which the eigh' men were tried and convicted were crowded with young and old, armed will all kinds of weapons. They had beei summoned to defend the jail should ai attempt be made to lynch the four prison ers, but no such an attempt was made and the posse contented itself with open ing sundry bottles and telling what i would do if a mob should appear. A hearty breakfast was served to the pris oners. Shortly after 11 o’clock the mem bers of the posse who were inside the jail the reporters and the witnesses allowed b; law, crowded into the corridor, where the\ were admonished by the sheriff to ge ready. Watchman Storks opened tin four doors and two deputies went into eacl cell and handcuffed and pinioned its occu pants. The sheriff ordered the crowd ii tho corridor to stand back, and the shor march to the scaffold commenced. Brook led, with Comegys next, followed by Wil liams and Brown. The sheriff was waiting on the scaffold for the men, and hesitehtljr jnotioned each of them to his position. The heavy, awkward-looking cotton nooses were soon arranged about th necks of the four men, after the black cai had been placed over their faces and thel. legs bound at the ankles. The sherit took a last look at the beam, the rope? the traps and finally at * the men themselves. The people waiting In the yar. below could see.nothing, so effectively wa the gallows boarded up. They heard th< creaking of the traps, nowefer, and waiter with bated breath for the noise of th< lever. In a minute it came. Four of th' murderers of Dr Hill had suffered th» penalty for their crime.