and five of the best bloodhounds in the State were employed.
Seven negroes, including the murderers and the negro who was killed in company with young Eastland, have suffered death as the result of this crime. It is thought that the negro lodges in that section had much to do with the crime, and that they helped the murderers.
It is said that while Helbert and his wife were burning, their screams were something terrific, and they could be heard for half a mile. Their son was nearly crazed with fear, and when he saw the flames consuming his tortured parents, and heard their frightful screams, and prayers for mercy, he threw himself face downward on the ground, closing his eyes, and putting his fingers in his ears, to shut the fearful scene out from sight and hearing. After the couple were dead and only partly consumed, the mob left them, and the boy took the blackened corpses of his parents, and laid them side by side in the brush, covering them over as best he could.
These lynchings are not always confined to the Southern States. Less than a year ago, a typical case of burning a negro at the stake took place in the State of Delaware. The fellow's name was George White. It happened on June 23, 1903, on which date he met the beautiful Miss Helen Bishop, a daughter of a well-known minister of Delaware, and worked his will with her, and then brutally murdered his outraged victim. The feeling in the community which followed upon this terrible crime was most passionate and intense. It was evident in all classes of people, and apparently could not be subdued or controlled. Miss Bishop was a great favorite with all who knew her. She was young, a girl of decided beauty, both of face and figure. She was alone at the time, and in a country district.
I clip a few of the instances from the New York American of Wednesday, June 24, 1903, page 2. Hun-
14
