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Night of Horror Follows Efforts to Capture Negro PrisonerSHERMAN, TEX., May 10— lt;FPi- Comparative1 quiet was restored here today when militia reinforcements from Dallas and Fort Wortharrived to subdue rioters who for 15 hours terrorized the town afterburning the Grayson county courthouse as a final resort in lynching a negro. !The town virtually was under martial law as 300 National Guards-I’.ien patrolled the streets.Two members of the mob were n hospitals and four guardsmen .were injured. *Twelve men were lodged in th *county jail today and charged withincendarism and instigating mob violence. All are under 35 years' of age. They were arrested early | today. jThe burned bodv of George ; Hughes, object of the lynching, whowasuffocated in a vault where he Iwas iolt; ked for safe keeping, was cut down from a cottonwood tree today. It was strung up after the ( mob had removed it from the vault, dragged it through the negro residential district, and started a fire j under it.SHERMAN, TEX., May in- *—Giant oak trees, searectered by fire end horde;dering ruins of the once (little Grayson county courthouse.were grim reminders today of a j night of horror during which amob ran wild.Stern faced Texas NationalGuardsmen who last night were barricaded in the county jail, patrolled th streets today. ISefore» * *noon it was expected 235 other soldiers would arrive. IThe ijrsr 'lt; Ur dim 4»c guards- {m« u swung into''Sherman yester- j—day alter rioting broke out during the trial of George Hughes. 41-vir- .( Id negro charged with assaultinvim. Drew Farlow, white. !Hughes was roasted to death in ; second floor vault of the court-house at the height of the disorders j when tire swept the structure. Not 1content ith destroying the courthouse and driving other negroes ; from town, the mob spent its energies attacking and harrassing th • guardsmen. jMob Runs Wild The guardsmen were attacked shortly after dusk when ili**v were lt;rdeved to march to the courthouse : to recover the body oi Hughe- i Ringleaders of the rioting, unconvinced that Hughes was dead, ishouted that the move was an indication that Hughes was alive, unable to reach the vault funded deep in the smoking' ruins tin* rioters attacked tie* guardsmen, driving the rn bac k two blocks to the countvjail.After midnight th* mob obtained tin* body of the negro and dragged it through the city streets. Theghastly march.ended in tie* negro strict where the body was tossed a pile of burning timbers. While %r burned the rioters fired nearby negro dwellings.Oonditioin became serious earlv yesterday afternoon when Hughes* trial opened. The negro was guarded by Captain Frank Ilauier, Texas Ranger known as the official “mob buster. and four others. They spirited the defendant into the courthouse.The* mob learned of the moveand regarded it as trickery. There*was talk of entering the building and seizing the negro, but the plan was frustrated when officers threatened the crowd with tear bombs and riot sticks.Sight of Victim Starts ItThe presence of the ambulance bringing Mrs. Farlow to the courthouse, and the sight of the* injuredwoman being borne inside on astre tcher, excited the crowd. The rioters started throwing rocks andsticks through the courtroom windows and attacked the officers.Sheriff Arthur Vaughn --aid an unidentified woman started tie* rush for tie* basement of the building. This rush resulted in the cmcvthouse being tired.* flames, fed by gasoline and sene, roared beyond control. Ti? county judge and county attorney were trapped with no ijieuns of escape until firemen hoisted ladders down which tiiey escaped.“Roast him! Roast him! Burn him alive! Burn him alive!’* the mob chanted as the flames leaped higher and higher and great clouds of smoke darkened the sky.Hack Fire Hose LinesFiremen, summoned to the scene.were stopped by rioters who destroyed their apparatus and hacked their hose lines to pieces.Captain Hamer, after repeated efforts to disperse tin* mob, told(Continued rrorn Page One)
Newspaper Details
Murphysboro Daily Independent
Murphysboro, Illinois, US
Sat, May 10, 1930
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anne A.
IL, USA 20 Aug 2021
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