Lynched a mere boy

Alabama Mob avenges the Murder of Deputy Sheriff John Cowlett.

Thomas Douglas was hung from a tree beside his mother’s house, near Sherman, Ala. He was but 13 years of age. The crime which drew upon him the vengeance of a mob was the murder of Deputy Sheriff John Cowlett, and it was committed in obedience to his mother’s orders. The official had gone to the Douglas farm to levy on a cow. Mrs. Douglas declined to permit him to execute the order, and told her son to drive the sheriff off the premises. She added that if he attempted to take the cow away the boy was to shoot him. The command was faithfully obeyed, and Cowlett was killed on the spot. On Monday a mob some fifty strong entered the house and demanded of Mrs. Douglas that she deliver up the young murderer. She refused to comply with the request, and was bound to a chair while the mob searched the house. Thomas Douglas was found in a cellar behind a pile of empty boxes and dragged, half unconscious from fright, to the yard. There he was hanged and a dozen bullets were fired into his body.