WHITE MENL YNCHED.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9468, 10 June 1909, Page 7

WHITE MENL YNCHED.

From Ada (Oklahoma) comes |the mews that a mob of 800 citizens marched at three o’clock on a recent Monday morning to the city gaol, where there was only a single guardian, took out fonr white cattlemen who were detained there* and hanged them from the rafters of a barn near by. . . Two of the victims were prominent and wealthy men, in custody on a charge of complicity in the murder Of ex-United States Marshal Bobbitt in February. Their leader, a man named Miller, is credited with haying killed half a dozen men at various times. The men did not molest Miller’s nephew, who is only 17 years old, and was detained in the gaol as a witness, after having turned State evidence, and given the authorities a detailed account of a conspiracy engineered by his uncle, which resulted in' the shooting of ex-Marshal Bobbitt from an ambush. These men were nofe ordinary criminals, and, indeed. Miller left estate valued at £40,000, while his comrades were all ;.wealthy. The citizens of Oklahoma, fearing that the influence of the accused would secure their acquittal, decided to lynch them, and so, without any fuss, 100 strapping fellows volunteered' to storm phe prison. They fonnd the door of the gaol conveniently fragile, and had not the slightest difficulty in battering it down. There was only one guard on dnty, and he was knocked senseless with the butt end of a revolver. The four prisoners had no alternative but to submit and accompany the mob. They were lined up in the courtyard, and asked to explain why they killed Mr Bobbitt. West, a fine-looking, swaggering cowboy, answered fnr the four, saying, “Yon can go to— — 1 for all y?e care. Had I but a six-shooter I’d l.make a dozen of you bite the dust You’ve evidently a job to do. Well, why don’t you do it? You won’t catch us telling a word.” Ropes were then placed round their necks. Miller calmly removed a diamond from his shirt front, asking that it m’iglit be sent to his wife, who is staying at Fort Worth, Texas, and also drew a scarrpin from his_ tie requesting that it should be given to the unconscious prison guard. Then the victims were dragged to a neighbouring barn, strung up on a broad beam, and securely fastened. When the authorities fonnd them they had been dead for an hour. The county attorney promised to investigate the lynching, but asserted that, as there could be no evidence of identity there probably would be no prosecutions. Milder was popular, although, a rough diamoncf. He is supposed to have killed 30 people within the last 20 years, mostly cattle thieves men whom he had shot in self-defence*-All his life had been spent on the Texas border.