Description
Mob Justice. - - (Special Dispatch to The Tribune) Leavenworth, Kansas, July 31. - In The Tribune Sunday morning the particulars of the outrage upon the person of Mrs. Davis, living near Camden Point, Missouri, were given. The negro, Joseph Williams, was last night taken out of the Platte County Jail and hanged by a mob of citizens.
Between the hours of 1 and 2 o'clock this morning a large body of men, numbering, is thought, about 125, all masked, rode into Platte City from the country on fine horses, and accompanied by a wagon loaded with heavy tools, such as sledge-hammers, picks, crow-bars, and axes, to be used in the demolition of the jail in case their demands were not acceded to. The party was arranged with wagon in the centre, and an advance and a rear guard, the first of which cautioned people who happened to be up to remain carefully indoors and see nothing.
One man, a barber named Stivers, let his curiosity get the better of his discretion, and followed the party toward the jail, when one of the rear guard suddenly wheeled on him and forced him at the mouth of a Navy revolver to be at a hasty retreat in the direction of his house.
The cavalcade then proceeded to the jail, and, in a manner that showed the whole affair to have been well planned, one who spoke in a commanding voice ordered the command to halt. The Sheriff was then called out, and a formal demand was made for the possession of the prisoner. This Dr. Coffey refused, saying he had no authority to turn the prisoner over. The crowd, however, forced their way into the jail.
The prisoner was soon found, and, after being bound and gagged, was thrown into the wagon, into which the tools were returned, and the whole party moved away in the direction of a place called Tracy, about a ¼ of a mile from the jail.
Arriving in the vicinity of a large tree, the cavalcade halted, and the poor quivering victim of their vengeance was given to understand that his last hour was come. At the signal the wagon was driven rapidly from beneath the victim’s feet, and a second longer he was swinging in the air.
The grim crowd of executioners, waiting silently and statue-like on their horses till the last spark of life had gone, departed, satisfied, doubtless, that they had done a righteous act.
The woman (Mrs. Davis) who was outraged is reported to have been a lady highly respected in the neighborhood where she lives, and the commission of the crime aroused the whole district in proximity thereto. She is said to be now lying in a critical condition, and not likely to recover.Date(s) of Creation
8/1/1876
