Two Men Shot as Mob Raids Jail

• Cornelius Robinson and William Thompson

TWO MEN SHOT AS MOB RAIDS JAIL Negro Boy Was Sought For Criminal Assault. MOB INVITED TO SEARCH JAIL While Seach Waa In Progress Firing Began Roy Hoyle Was Fatally Shot and Alderman Lyons Slightly . Wounded. Mobile, Ala., Oct. 4. Roy Hoyle, a speciul officer of the Mobile and Ohio railroad, and one of the moat widely known and best liked 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 duritug a fight at the county jail between deputy sheriffs and a crowd ot men, determined to capture Dick Robinson, a young negro. The mob is still hunting the negro, and will lynch him if possible. The negro, who is only 17 years of age, and was said to be wearing his first pair of long trousers, Tuesday attacked Ruth, the 12-year-old daughter of Blount Sossaman, who lives about three miles from here The girl was passing a secluded spot not tar from her home when she was attacked. Later she was found lying uncon-scious by the roadside, and wab 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 Soisaman girl, who at once identified hi:n. Deputy Sheriff Fatch, 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 several miles u,p 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. As early as 6 o’clock in the evening crowds of men commenced to gather in the downtown streets and by 6:30 600 men had formed at the intersection of Royal and Dauphin streets. The crowd was harrangued by several speakers, who urged them to take the life of the negro if he could be found, and in a shorf time the entire crowd was on the march for the jail. Sheriff Powers met the leaders of the mob and informed them that the man they were seeking was not in the jail and had never been brougnt 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 not there. While several men, including Hoyle and Lyons, were still in the jail a portion of ‘the crowd, led by a fall, raw-boned man, whose “narrT is not known, seized a telephone pole, whicn 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 tSff 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 fusilade and about a dozen revolver shots were fired, and ; then came several shots from -a rifle ‘ held in the hands of a man who leveled it above his head and worked It vigorously while holding it 1n that position. Not more than a dozen men took part in the firing, and as the shots rang out there was a stampede on the part of- the crowd ‘ lor shelter. ” The mob was widely scattered, and In a few seeoifd Alderman Lyons, who had beatv on the inside of the Jail, came ami, and holding up his hand, from wnlefc the blood was tfeamlng; afcfuced 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 conning out m.slili’ or a few minutes. Informed 11.0 crowd thai Hoyle could live but a very short time. Hoyle has been exceptionally po;v u’ar, and ti.e fact that he hH htcii Fhot while looking through the Jail in” order to ascertain If tit negro wa there look all the fight out ot the niob. and lor the n.osl part It div peic.J quietly. Tne big man who had led the gang with the telephone pole, however, was cnxlous for further vengeance on the negroes, and passionately urged the crowd to follow him to the negro section of the city. He stalked away, followed by a few mn, who deserted him before he had gone three squares Negro In Birmingham Jail Birmingham, Ala., Oct. 3.-deputy sheriffs from Mobile W1 jr. j Ilinninghaui early Wedne in charge Cornelius ,.v young negro who is allfr .iave assaulted a 12-year-old wht, irl near that city Tueadaj afternoon and because of which crime a mob attempted to storm the Mobile Jail Tuesday night, two men being shot. Robinson was placed in the Jefferson county Jail for safe keeping. He deule his guilt, but was identified by hi.’ victim. The officers say that aftf the arrest and identification of Rob Inson, he was rushed to the. Mobil 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 6:3″ o’clock Tuesday evening. Robinsor. was not in the Mobile jail when the mob gathered.

“Two Men Shot as Mob Raids Jail.” The Tuscaloosa News (Tuscaloosa, AL), October 04, 1906.