Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 99, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1901 — BURN NEGRO AT STAKE. [ARTICLE]

BURN NEGRO AT STAKE.

Tennesseeans Avenge Attack Upon and Murder of a White Woman. .¶ Henry Noles, a negro who assaulted and shot to death Mrs. Charles Williams, wife of a farmer living near Winchester, Tenn., was burned at the stake near the scene of his crime in the presence of a crowd of over 5,000 persons. .¶ The lynchers and others who came to witness the burning of the negro comprised almost the whole population for miles around. A procession three miles long followed the black to the stake. .¶ Noles was captured near Cowan and was taken to Winchester by his captors and placed in jail. Sheriff Stewart made haste to barricade the jail and protect the prisoner, but within an hour a mob of several hundred men gathered. Assistant Attorney General Matt N. Whittaker made a speech to the crowd, appealing to them to assist him in allaying excitement and upholding the law. The effect of these addresses was lost, however, when several hundred residents from the neighborhood where the crime was committed came up and increased the crowd to thousands. Then the mob swept forward upon the jail, overpowered the sheriff and his deputies, took the prisoner and started for the Williams home, twelve miles distant. .¶ When this point was reached the negro was placed upon a stump and given a chance to make a statement. He mounted the stump stolidly and laughed as he began his statement. He said: .¶ "Tell all my sisters and brothers to meet me in glory, I am going to make that my home. Tell my mother to meet me where parting will be no more.” .¶ He was then asked as to whether anyone else was implicated in the crime. Noles said emphatically no one was implicated but himself. .¶ "Why did you kill Mrs. Williams?” was asked. .¶ "I just done that because I had nothing else to do.” .¶ When he finished his statement he was taken from the stump, carried to a tree near by, bound to the tree by chains and his body was saturated with oil. A match was applied and instantly the quivering body was enveloped in flames, Fence rails were piled about the burning body; and soon life was extinct.