Two Men Shot as Mob Raids Jail

• Cornelius Robinson and William Thompson

MEN AS MOB RAIDS JAIL Negro Boy Was Sought, For Criminal Assault MOB INVITED TO SEARCH JAIL While 8each Wae In Progress Firing Began Roy Hoyle Wae Fatally Shot and Alderman Lyons Slightly Wounded. Mobile, Ala., Oct. .4. Roy Hoyle, a special officer of the Mobile and Ohio railroad, and one of the most widely known and best Hked men in this vicinity, was fatally shot, and Alderman Sidney Lyons, chairman of the city council of Mobile, was slightly wounded In the hand Tuesday night during a fight at the county -laH be tween deputy sheriffs and a crowd of men, determined to capture Dick Rob inson, a young negro. The mob is still hunting the negro, and will lynch htn if possible. . The negro, who is only 17 years or age, and was said to be wearing his first pair of long trousers, Tuesday at tacked Ruth, the 12-year-old daughter of Blount So&saman, who lives about three miles from here. The girt was passing a secluded spot not far from her home when she was . attacked. Later she -was found lying unconscious by’ , the roadside, and . was taken to her home. Detectives were placed on the track of the negro,; and within three hours he was captured. When found he had substituted his short pants for the trousers he had had on earlier in the day. He was taken before the Sossaman girl, who at once identified him. Deputy Sheriff Patch, knowing that the life of the negro would be taken by a mob If he brought him into the city, caused him to be conveyed to a station sev eral miles up – the Mobile and Ohio railroad. He was not taken to the Jail at all and was at least 8 miles from , the city when the mob deter mined to have him approached the building. ” There have been : several assaults upon white women within the. last few weeks,, and- the news of this latest outrage caused Intense wrath and excitement. u s – , – ” ” , As early as 6 o’clock in the evening crowds of men commencea1 to gather in the downtown streets and by 6:30 600 men had formed at the Intersec tion of Royal and. Dauphin, streets. The crowd was harrangued by . sev eral speakers, who urged them to take the life of the negro if ,he jcould .be found, and In a short time the entire crowd was on the march for. the jail Sheriff Powers -met the leaders ef the mob and -Informed tbem that the man they were seeking -was iyat in the’ jail and had never been brought there. He offered , to let. , anybody whom he : personally ; knew . pass through the corridors and . some of them returned and. assured the. members of the -mob that the man was sot there. . . While several men, including Hoyle and Lyons,, were stall in the jail a portion of the crowd, led by a tall, raw-boned man, whose name is not known, seized a telephone pole, which had been blown down In the recent storm, and dashed it against the closed part of a double door, one-half of which -was open. The door fell with a crash and almost instantly a shot came from a revolver in the hands of a man standing in the gate. – At once the members of the mob . ‘ . … – commenced a cusuaae and about a dozen revolver shots were fired, and then came several shots from a rifle held in the hands of a man who lev eled it above hie head and worked it vigorously while holding it in that position. Not more than a dozen men took part In the firing, and as the shots rang out there was a stam pede on the part of the crowd for shelter. . , ‘ The mob was widely scattered, and in a few seconds Alderman Lyons, who had been on, the Inside of the jail, came out, and holding up his hand, from which the blood was streaming, announced that he had been shot, and that Roy Hoyles had received a bullet in the left lung. There were loud calls for a physician, and one who was in the crowd hastened to the jail, and coming out inside of a few minutes. Informed the crowd- that Hoyle could live but a very short time. Hoyle has been exceptionally popular, and the fact that he had been shot while looking through the Jail in order to ascertain if the negro was there took all the fight out of the mob, and for the most part it dispersed quietly. The big man who had led. the gang with the telephone pole, however, was anxious for further vengeance on the negroes, and passionately urged the crowd tofollowhtm to the negro sec- tlon -of the city; He stalked” away. followed by a few men, who deserted him before he had gone three squares. Negro In Birmingham Jail. Birmingham, Ala.. Oct. 8. Two deputy sheriffs from Mobile reached Birmingham early Wednesday, havlnx In charge Cornelius Robinson, the young negro who is alleged to have assaulted a 12-year-old white girl near that city Tuesday afternoon and because of which crime a mob attempt ed to storm the Mobile jail Tuesday! night, two men being shot. Robinson was placed in the Jefferson coun ty Jail for safe keeping. He denies his guilt, but was identified by his victim. The officers say that after the arrest and Identification of Robinson, he was rushed to the Mobile jail, but kept there only long enough to secure a team, when he was driven to Carey’s Station, on the Southern- railway a few miles out, where a train to Birmingham was caught at 6:30 o’clock Tuesday evening. Robinson was not In the Mobile jail when the mob gathered

“Two Men Shot as Mob Raids Jail.” The Elba Clipper (Elba, Alabama), October 05, 1906.