The Bloody Record; The best citizens of the murderous South continue their work

The Bloody Record

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Best Citizens of the Murderous

South Continue their Work.

Birmingham, Ala. Feb. 14—Riley Webb, colored who is claimed to have assaulted Mrs. Krebs, a white woman, in Montgomery, on February 6, and was captured yesterday, was removed to Selma for safe keeping. At 1 o’clock last night he was taken from last at place and hanged to a tree, and his body filled with bullets.

Two Afro-Americans were lynched at Pine Bluff, Ark, Feb. 15, for the murder of a white man.

Ed Coy, the Afro-American who was accused of assaulting-Mrs. Jewell of Texarkana, Ark, about ten days ago, was surrendered to the authorities and bought to Texarkana on the 20^th. Coy is described as being of light complexation, spare build, pleasing countenance, and a head denoting a little more than average intelligence of his race. The arrival was the cause of great excitement, speeches were made to allay it, but amid loud cries he was hurried away, strapped to the body of the tree with iron lasteninngs, and coal oil was poured over his entire person in liberal quantities. There was a moment of silence, and then another shout went up. It was:

“Let Mrs. Jewell apply the match. Let Mrs. Jewell set him off.”

Walking slowly, and very pale but collected, the women emerged from the crowd. Her appearance set the mob wild and a cheer shook the ground.

The crowd fell back at her approach, making a pathway for her. Leaning upon the arm of a male relative on either side, she walked unhesitatingly forward to where Coy stood pinioned, struck a parlor match with her own hand and with perfect deliberation, fired the Negros’s clothes in two places.

In a second the poor wretch was one mass of flames, but even in death, his wonderful nerve, exhibited ewer since his arrest, never forsook him, and while suffering the tortures of fire he actually called to the men of the assembly, in a clear voice: “Move back so the ladies can see.” He referred to the Afro-American women, a large number of whom were present.

Coy made but little noise during his horrible death, except to groan, and died in about twenty minutes after the application of the torch.

A few minutes before he was taken out to meet his horrible death he was seen by a reporter. He did not seem at all nervous, and protested his innocence, saying at the same time that he felt sure that he was about to be put to death.

He reiterated his denial of guilt while the mob was struggling with him on the streets.

On the 11^th. Inst., at Tuscaloosa Ala., two Afro-Americans, Charles Mckilton and John Johnson, charged with burglary, were while in the hands of officers of the law, forcibly taken by a mob and swung to the limb of a tree. They were left hanging until next evening.

1892, Feb. 11. The Bloody Record.