THEY WERE SUSPENDED ~ Between Heaven And Earth, Dangling In The Air

THEY WERE SUSPENDED Between Heaven and Earth, Dang- ling in the Air. Tuscaloossa, Feb. 11.-On Monday night, last the store of D. S. Robertson, at Romulus, in this county, was burglarized and afterwards burned to the ground. Mr. Robertson had a large stock of goods on hand, which, being uninsured, was a total loss to him. Suspicion pointed to two negros, Charles McKelton and John Jackson, as the guilty parties. A searching party was organized and succeeded in cap- turing the men and locating the stolen goods. The prisoners had a hearing before a justice of the peace, and the evidence proved conclusively that they were the men by whom the double crime was committed. The trial was held at a late hour Wednesday evening, and the prisoners were left in, charge of two men, who were instructed to bring them to this city for confinment in the county jail. About 8 d’clock in the evening the guards were overpowered by a large crowd of men masked and armed to the teeth, who took the quaking negroes to an oak tree near the scene of their crime, and quickly producing a couple of ropes and fastening them about their necks, the terrified wretches were soon dangling between heaven and earth. A placard was pinned to the body of each. On one was inscribed the words, “Our homes must be protected.” On the other, “A warning to house burners.” The bodies were left hang- ing until yesterday, when they were taken down by the citizens and buried. The extreme and swift punishment dealt out to the negroes may be at- tributed to the fact that arson and rob- bery had become so frequent in the neighborhood of the lynching that the persons who were the sufferers from these continued depredations resolved to adopt this method of showing future offenders what they might expect from an outraged community. THEY WERE SUSPENDED Between Heaven and Earth, Dang- ling in the Air. Tuscaloossa, Feb. 11.-On Monday night, last the store of D. S. Robertson, at Romulus, in this county, was burglarized and afterwards burned to the ground. Mr. Robertson had a large stock of goods on hand, which, being uninsured, was a total loss to him. Suspicion pointed to two negros, Charles McKelton and John Jackson, as the guilty parties. A searching party was organized and succeeded in cap- turing the men and locating the stolen goods. The prisoners had a hearing before a justice of the peace, and the evidence proved conclusively that they were the men by whom the double crime was committed. The trial was held at a late hour Wednesday evening, and the prisoners were left in, charge of two men, who were instructed to bring them to this city for confinment in the county jail. About 8 d’clock in the evening the guards were overpowered by a large crowd of men masked and armed to the teeth, who took the quaking negroes to an oak tree near the scene of their crime, and quickly producing a couple of ropes and fastening them about their necks, the terrified wretches were soon dangling between heaven and earth. A placard was pinned to the body of each. On one was inscribed the words, “Our homes must be protected.” On the other, “A warning to house burners.” The bodies were left hang- ing until yesterday, when they were taken down by the citizens and buried. The extreme and swift punishment dealt out to the negroes may be at- tributed to the fact that arson and rob- bery had become so frequent in the neighborhood of the lynching that the persons who were the sufferers from these continued depredations resolved to adopt this method of showing future offenders what they might expect from an outraged community.