Lynching Reported in the New York Times on April 24, 1899

Negro Dies at the Stake

Mr. And Mrs. Cranford’s Assailant Burned by a Georgia Mob.

HIS BODY CUT IN MANY PIECES

Flames End the Torture After Half An Hour – Partial Confession Implicates a Colored Preacher.

NEWMAN, Ga., April 23. – Sam Hose, the Negro murderer and assailant of Mr. And Mrs. Cranford, was burned at the stake, in the presence of 2,000 people, near this town this afternoon. Before his death Hose’s body was mutilated with knives, and the torture endured for half an hour. When the flames had ended his suffering, the mob cut the remains of the body into small fragments.

Hose made a partial confession, acknowledging that he killed Mr. Cranford, and said that the murder had been instigated by a colored preacher, who had paid him $12 to commit it. . . .

At Griffin someone recognized Hose and sent word to Newman, the next station, that the Negro was on the train bound for Atlanta. When Newman was reached a great crowd surrounded the train and pushed into the cars. The Jones brothers were told that the Negro could be delivered to the Sheriff of Campbell County there, and that it was not necessary to take him to Atlanta. This was acceded to, and the Negro was taken off the train and marched at the head of a yelling, shouting crowd of 500 people to the jail. Here they turned him over to Sheriff Brown. . . .

Mrs. Cranford Notified

Word was sent to Mrs. Cranford at Palmetto that it was believed her assailant was under arrest, and her presence was necessary in Newman to make sure of his identification. In some way the news of the arrest leaked out, and, as the town had been on the alert for nearly two weeks, the intelligence spread rapidly. From every house in the little city came its occupants, and a good-sized crowd was soon gathered about the jail. Sheriff Brown was importuned to give up the prisoner, and finally, in order to avoid an assault on the jail and possible bloodshed, he turned the wretch over to the waiting crowd. A procession was quickly formed, and the Negro was marched at its head through several streets of the town. Soon the public square was reached. Here ex-Gov. Atkinson of Georgia, who lives in Newman, came hurriedly upon the scene, and standing up in a buggy importuned the crowd to let the law take its course.

“My fellow citizens and friends,” said the ex-Governor, “I beseech you to let this affair go no further. You are hurrying this Negro on to death without an identification. Mrs. Cranford, whom he is said to have killed, is sick in bed and unable to be here to say whether this is her assailant. Let this Negro be returned to jail. The law will take its course, and I promise you it will do so quickly and effectually. Do not stain the honor of the State with a crime such as you are about to perform.”

Judge A. D. Freeman also of Newman, spoke in a similar strain and prayed the mob to return the prisoner to the custody of the Sheriff and go home.

The assemblage heard the words of the two speakers in silence, but the instant their voices had died away shouts of “On to Palmetto!” “Burn him!” “Think of his crime!” arose, and the march was resumed.

Mrs. McElroy Identifies Him

Mrs. Cranford’s mother and sister are residents of Newman. The mob was headed in the direction of their house, and in a short time reached the McElroy home. The Negro was marched in at the gate and Mrs. McElroy was called to the front door. She immediately identified the Negro, and her verdict was agreed to by her daughter, who had often seen Hose about the Cranford place.

“To the stake!” was the cry, and several men wanted to burn the man in Mrs. McElroy’s yard. To this she objected strenuously, and the mob, complying with her wish, started for Palmetto. Just as they were leaving Newman news was brought that the 1 o’clock train from Atlanta would bring 1000 persons from Atlanta. This was taken to be a detachment of soldiers and the mob decided to burn the prisoner at the first favorable place rather than be compelled to shoot him when the militia appeared.

Leaving the town, the mob, which now numbered nearly 1,500 persons, started on the road to Palmetto. A line of buggies and vehicles of all kinds, their drivers fighting for position in line, followed the procession, at the head of which, closely guarded, marched the Negro.

Implicates a Negro Preacher

One and a half miles out of Newman a place believed to be favorable to burning was reached. A little off the side of the road was a strong pine tree. Up to this the Negro was marched, his back placed to the tree and his face to the crowd, which jostled closely about him. Here for the first time he was allowed to talk. He said:

“I am Sam Hose. I killed Alfred Cranford, but was paid to do it. ‘Lige’ Strickland, the Negro preacher at Palmetto, gave me $12 to kill him.”

At this a roar went up from the crowd. The intelligence imparted by the wretch was spread among them.

“Let him go on; tell all you know about it,” came from the crowd. The Negro, shivering like a leaf, continued his recital. He denied that Mrs. Cranford was his victim.

“Somebody else did that,” he said. “I can identify them. Give me time for that.”

The mob would hear no more. The clothes were torn from the wretch in an instant. A heavy chain was produced and wound around the body of the terrified Negro, clasped by a new lock which dangled at Hose’s neck. He said not a word to this proceeding, but at the sight of three or four knives flashing in the hands of several members of the crowd about him, which seemed to forecast the terrible ordeal he was about to be put to, he uttered a wild shriek.

The Mutilation Begins

A hand grasping a knife shot out and one of the negro’s ears dropped into a hand ready to receive it. Hose pleaded pitifully for mercy and begged his tormentors to let him die. His cries were unheeded. The second ear went the way of the other. Hardly had he been deprived of his organs of hearing than his fingers, one by one, were taken from his hands and passed among the members of the yelling and now thoroughly maddened crowd.

When the crowd wearied of this mutilation the words, “Come on with the oil,” brought a huge can of kerosene to the foot of the tree, where the Negro, his body covered with blood from head to food, was striving and tugging at his chains. The can was lifted over the negro’s head by three or four men and its contents poured over him. By this time a good supply of brush pieces of fence rail, and other firewood had been placed about the negro’s feet. This pyre was thoroughly saturated and a match applied.

The Death Struggle

A flame shot upward and spread quickly over the pile of wood. As it licked the negro’s legs he shrieked once and began to struggle. As the flames crept higher and the smoke entered his eyes and mouth, Hose put the stumps of his hands to the tree back of him and with a terrific plunge forward of his body, severed the upper portion of the chains which bound him to the tree. His body, held to the tree only as far as the thighs, lunged forward, thus escaping the flames which roared and crackled about his feet. One of the men nearest the burning Negro quickly ran up and pushing him back said: “Get into the fire there,” and quickly coupled the disjoined links of the chain.

The road for a distance of half a mile on each side of the burning Negro was black with conveyances and was simply impassable. The crowd surrounded the stake on all sides, but none of those nearer than 100 feet of the centre was able to see what was going on. Yell after yell went up, and the progress of the flames was communicated to those in the rear by shouts from the eyewitnesses.

The torch was applied about 2:30, and at 3 o’clock the body of Sam Hose was limp and lifeless, his head hanging to one side. The body was not cut down. It was cut to pieces. The crowd fought for places about the smoldering tree, and with knives secured such pieces of his carcass as had not crumbled away. The chain was severed by hammers, the tree was chopped down, and the chips and such pieces of the firewood as had not burned were carried away as souvenirs.