Burning a Negro Alive

[From the Marion (Miss.) Repub., of May 23.) BURNING A NEGRO ALIVE.-Some time since, we published an account of the murder of Miss Thornton, an inter- esting young girl residing near Gaston, Alabama. Immediately after the mur- der and detection of the negro, this im- mediate punishment was seriously con- templated by the people of Sumpter county, but after mature deliberation, the law abiding citizens delivered him unto the custody of the proper officers, and he was committed to prison. At the late term of the circuit court of Sumpter county, the attorney appoin- ted by the court, in the discharge of his duty moved for a change of venue to Green county. The Judge, as the mo- tion was sustained by the proper affida- vit, sustained the application. On Wednesday last the citizens of South Sumpter assembled en masse at Mr. Wm. McElroy’s, and unani- mously passed a series of resolutions, reflecting seriously upon the conduct of the Judge, and having pledged them- selves to sustain each other, a portion of them proceeded to Livingston, and took the miserable criminal by force, from the jail from where he was con- fined. On Friday last after due preparation, they carried him to the spot where he cruelly murdered his innocent victim, and burnt him alive at the stake. About three thousand persons were present, who witnessed, with various emotions, present, the but dreadful hope spectacle. that like it. The will We were we never again witness a scene fire was composed of several cords of light- in the centre of which was a green willow stake, selected in con- sequence of its indistructibility by fire. On the top of the pile of light-wood, the criminal was placed and securely chained to the stake. While in this sit- uation he confessed his guilt, stating that he had no accomplice, that he was actuated lust at- tempted by alone, her that he but had had he to violate person, failed, and to conceal the attempt, had cruelly murdered her by beating the poor innocent creature with a stump, that while he was doing this she im- plored him to carry her home to her father and that she would conceal the violence he had inflicted. He then left her, but soon returned, and after again beating her, he concealed the body in the very hole where the stake was plan- ted to which he suffered. After this confession was made, the match was applied, and in a few mo- ments the devouring flames were envel- oping the doomed negro; his fearful cries resounded through the air, while the surrounding negroes who witnessed his dreadful agony and horrible contor- tions, sent up an involuntary howl of horror. His short; sufferings in few though minutes excru- ciating, were a the flames had subsided, revealing now and then as they fitfully swayed, hither and thither, his black and burning carcass like a demon of fire, grinning, as if in hellish triumph at his tormentors. Soon all was over, nothing was left but the burning flesh and charred skele- ton of this human devil who could thus deliberately perpetrate so foul a crime. The horrid outrage was fearfully aveng- ed, and though the heavens were reek- ing with the stench of burning flesh, yet justice was satisfied; the law of retalia- tion was inflicted as nearly as it could be, while the example made of this wretch had, no doubt, a salutary effect upon the two thousand slaves who wit- nessed his execution. We are far from approving of the in- fliction of mob law, yet, in aggravated cases like this, popular ebullition will manifest itself, and in view of the enor- mity journalist, wretch’s, approve, yet public have of the we as a cannot we neither time nor inclination to censure the conduct of the people of South Sump- ter, justice was inflicted by them, and a thousand deaths of the kind were too good for a devil, like negro Dave. [From the Marion (Miss.) Repub., of May 23.) BURNING A NEGRO ALIVE.-Some time since, we published an account of the murder of Miss Thornton, an inter- esting young girl residing near Gaston, Alabama. Immediately after the mur- der and detection of the negro, this im- mediate punishment was seriously con- templated by the people of Sumpter county, but after mature deliberation, the law abiding citizens delivered him unto the custody of the proper officers, and he was committed to prison. At the late term of the circuit court of Sumpter county, the attorney appoin- ted by the court, in the discharge of his duty moved for a change of venue to Green county. The Judge, as the mo- tion was sustained by the proper affida- vit, sustained the application. On Wednesday last the citizens of South Sumpter assembled en masse at Mr. Wm. McElroy’s, and unani- mously passed a series of resolutions, reflecting seriously upon the conduct of the Judge, and having pledged them- selves to sustain each other, a portion of them proceeded to Livingston, and took the miserable criminal by force, from the jail from where he was con- fined. On Friday last after due preparation, they carried him to the spot where he cruelly murdered his innocent victim, and burnt him alive at the stake. About three thousand persons were present, who witnessed, with various emotions, present, the but dreadful hope spectacle. that like it. The will We were we never again witness a scene fire was composed of several cords of light- in the centre of which was a green willow stake, selected in con- sequence of its indistructibility by fire. On the top of the pile of light-wood, the criminal was placed and securely chained to the stake. While in this sit- uation he confessed his guilt, stating that he had no accomplice, that he was actuated lust at- tempted by alone, her that he but had had he to violate person, failed, and to conceal the attempt, had cruelly murdered her by beating the poor innocent creature with a stump, that while he was doing this she im- plored him to carry her home to her father and that she would conceal the violence he had inflicted. He then left her, but soon returned, and after again beating her, he concealed the body in the very hole where the stake was plan- ted to which he suffered. After this confession was made, the match was applied, and in a few mo- ments the devouring flames were envel- oping the doomed negro; his fearful cries resounded through the air, while the surrounding negroes who witnessed his dreadful agony and horrible contor- tions, sent up an involuntary howl of horror. His short; sufferings in few though minutes excru- ciating, were a the flames had subsided, revealing now and then as they fitfully swayed, hither and thither, his black and burning carcass like a demon of fire, grinning, as if in hellish triumph at his tormentors. Soon all was over, nothing was left but the burning flesh and charred skele- ton of this human devil who could thus deliberately perpetrate so foul a crime. The horrid outrage was fearfully aveng- ed, and though the heavens were reek- ing with the stench of burning flesh, yet justice was satisfied; the law of retalia- tion was inflicted as nearly as it could be, while the example made of this wretch had, no doubt, a salutary effect upon the two thousand slaves who wit- nessed his execution. We are far from approving of the in- fliction of mob law, yet, in aggravated cases like this, popular ebullition will manifest itself, and in view of the enor- mity journalist, wretch’s, approve, yet public have of the we as a cannot we neither time nor inclination to censure the conduct of the people of South Sump- ter, justice was inflicted by them, and a thousand deaths of the kind were too good for a devil, like negro Dave.