Page:The Negro a menace to American civilization.djvu/232

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208
THE NEGRO

the whites with a purse of $100 for the part he took in the pursuit.

The negroes who were lynched were given an opportunity to pray.

———

One of the most disgusting and terrible lynchings recently done, took place only three days ago, and was reported in hundreds of papers. I give here a short account of it from The New York Times of Monday, February 8th, page 2. All the particulars are not furnished here. It is as follows : —

WOMAN AND MAN BURNED AT STAKE

——

Both Negroes Captured After Three-Day Chase Through

Mississippi Swamps.

(Special to The New York Times.)

Memphis, Tenn., Feb. 7. — Luther Helbert and his wife, colored, who murdered James Eastland, a young planter at Doddsville, Miss., Wednesday morning, were captured after a three days' chase in a swamp on the Yazoo River, Sunday morning at 3 o'clock. They were taken to Doddsville by a band of fifty men, and were burned at the stake, near the scene of their crime, at 3:30 this afternoon, before a large crowd of men from three counties.

The two brothers of the murdered planter decided the form of punishment, and were present at the burning. The crime for which the negroes died was one of the most horrible and cold-blooded ever committed in the State.

The mob turned the sixteen-year-old son of the murderers loose. The boy had been forced to accompany them. The negroes were heavily armed when captured, and were expected to make resistance, as they had sworn not to be taken alive, but they were surprised when asleep in the swamp. About 200 men altogether took part in the chase,