 | wednesday, 15 february 1893, p1 |
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Alfred Blount, a Negro, Suffers Death. He Ravished a Woman and Swift and Sure Was the Vengeance of the People. Taken From the County Jail to the County Bridge, Strung Up Under an Iron Girder and His Body Riddled With Bullets. THE HIDEOUS CRIME. Mrs. M. A. Moore, an Aged Lady, Mother of Four Children, Brutally Outraged at Her Home in the City. AND THE PENALTY DEATH. A Thousand Men Surround the Jail After Night, One Hundred Force an Entrance and Secure Their Prey. BEST OF ORDER MAINTAINED. The Ghastly Work of Last Night Accomplished by Cool and Deliberate Men Who, When Their Work Had Been Accomplished, Quietly Dispersed. Despite the Excitement and the Stubborn Resistance Made at the Jail, the Lynching Was Accomplished Without a Single Casualty Save the Violent Death of Blount. THE BRUTE'S DOGGED DENIAL. Not Until in the Valley of the Shadow of Death Did He Admit Having Been at Mrs. Moore's During the Day and Even Then Persisted That He Was ... Humanely Endeavors to Prolong the Life of the Brute by Asking That He Be Given Another Day of Life in Order That She Might Again See Him -- Blount's Body Not Cut Down Last Night, But Left Dangling Until 1 O'clock This Morning -- The Crime and Punishment Recited in Detail.Outrage to a woman demands death. It is so in the north, it is so in the east, it is so in the west, and it is so in the south. Where civilization exists this rule is the people's law, and so long as the lust of brutes, be they white or black, finds expression in deeds like that of yesterday, so long will lynch law exist. At 1 o'clock this morning, the bullet-ridden body of Alfred Blount, a negro, dangled from a girder on the Walnut street entrance of the Tennessee River Bridge. He had outraged a woman, the guilt had been fastened on him, and for the crime he paid his life. Mobs are unfortunate, lynchings are to be discountenanced, law and order should prevail, but when the passions of men are inflamed by a crime such as perpetrated yesterday, lynch law will follow as certain as the rise of the sun precedes the light of the day. Alfred Blount was guilty of a crime, the blackest which has yet defaced the local criminal calendar. In the broad light of day, in the very heart of the city, he overpowered an aged woman and mother, stopped her screams by choking her, rendered her unconscious by his brutality, and while his victim lay prone upon the floor insensible to her surroundings this fiend incarnate satisfied his beastly lust, darkening forever the life of a refined woman, taking from her soul the sunshine of a Christian life. It was a deed at which one must stand, appalled, a crime so black, so hideous that common humanity shudders at the thought. What else the penalty but death? Last night while 1,000 people at the opera house were paying tribute to the magnificent beauty of Spain's adorable Carmencita, 1,000 men but two blocks away were taking the course of the law from the law's own hands. 1,000 men had surrounded the county jail and despite the determined resistance offered by the county and city officers, more than 100 of the crowd led by cool and deliberate men battered down the street door of the prison, broke the steel locks and bolts of the prison doors, and lifting from its cogs the cell door, behind which Alfred Blount was crouching, dragged him to the street below. As Carmencita left the stage 1,000 pairs of hands clapped praise. The echo of the applause had scarcely died when the yell of the populace outside could be heard within the house of amusement. The plandits inside spoke praises for a woman, the plandits outside meant death for a wretch at the hands of an outraged and indignant community. They are pictures from life!
An Outrage Without a Parallel in Local Criminal History. The fiendish outrage on a defenseless woman was commited in Chattanooga yesterday morning. The victim of the brute's lust was Mrs. M. A. Moore, a widow, aged 51, residing in a cottage at 122 Helen street, within 100 feet of Gillespie street. She is a cousin of J. M. Sutton, the well known passenger agent of the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia railway. Mrs. Moore is a mother of four grown sons; three at work at Whiteside; the other ... mother was commited.
It was in the neighborhood of 9 o'clock. The breakfast dishes had been washed and put away. Mrs. Moore, alone in the house, had entered upon her domestic duties. While busily engaged in making her son's bed in the rear room, the back door was softly opened. Supposing the visitor to be a neighbor, Mrs. Moore, withhout turning her head, said: "Come right in." The next moment a rough but low toned voice said: "Lady, will you please give me a bite of bread to eat?" "Why, yes, certainly," answered Mrs. Moore. She called to a small colored boy who did chores about the house to come and get the man something to eat, but Sam was not within hearing, nor was he about the house. Mrs. Moore started to go into the kitchen to get the supposed beggar the food. As she did she was rudely grasped by the arm. Before she could scream a big, black hand was firmly placed over her mouth and the grip changed from her arm to her throat. Realizing instantly the intent of the fiend, Mrs. Moore struggled with all her feeble strength to escape, but it was a fight against great odds, and of short duration. Once she struck the negro over the head with her left hand, but the next moment she fainted with fright, and while in an insensible condition the hideous deed was commited, and the victim left as though dead on the floor. For some moments following the outrage, just how long nobody knows, Mrs. Moore remained unconscious. When consciousness came she struggled to her feet and called to her next-door neighbor, Mrs. DeRochemont, and related her terrible experience. That lady immediately informed C. R. Plumb, night clerk of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis railway, and he ran for an officer. Within less than half an hour from the commiting of the crime a fair description of the rapist had been secured and a search was begun. Sheriff Skillern put his entire force of deputies out on horses. The morning squad of patrolmen were notified and every policeman off duty who could be found was specially detailled on the case. A systematic search of the neighboring yards, streets and alleys was made by the officers on foot, while those mounted watched the main thoroughfares leading from the city.
A full description of the man was given as follows: Color, dark ginger-bread; full face; big mouth, with thick lips and slight black moustache; height, about 5 feet 10 inches; stoutly built, with very square shoulders; he wore a dark brown or sunburnt black slouch hat; light colored sack coat and dark trousers. The man was seen to enter Mrs. Moore's home by Mrs. Walter Martin, the back door of whose home is within forty feet of the door where the negro entered. Mrs. Martin paid no special attention to the fact and did not notice the more than to see he was colored and that he entered from Gillespie street by coming through the yard to a house occupied by a Mrs. Haggard.
For the first hour or two following the report of the crime all was excitement and confusion. The news spread with almost telegraphic rapidity and crowds flocked to the home of the outraged woman. Soon after giving the alarm Mrs. Moore ...
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Chattanooga Times 15 February 1893 page 1
Blount's Lynching Dissolves The Colored Foundry Scheme. 17 february 1893
Mrs. Blount Sues Chattanooga Over Her Husbands Lynching 8 July 1893
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