They marched
to the fire, and giving the body a swing, it was landed in the middle of
the fire. There was a cry for more wood, as the fire had begun to die
owing to the long delay. Willing hands procured the wood, and it was
piled up on the Negro, almost, for a time, obscuring him from view. The
head was in plain view, as also were the limbs, and one arm which stood
out high above the body, the elbow crooked, held in that position by a
stick of wood. In a few moments the hands began to swell, then came
great blisters over all the exposed parts of the body; then in places
the flesh was burned away and the bones began to show through. It was a
horrible sight, one which, perhaps, none there had ever witnessed
before. It proved too much for a large part of the crowd and the
majority of the mob left very shortly after the burning began.

But a large number stayed, and were not a bit set back by the sight of a
human body being burned to ashes. Two or three white women, accompanied
by their escorts, pushed to the front to obtain an unobstructed view,
and looked on with astonishing coolness and nonchalance. One man and
woman brought a little girl, not over twelve years old, apparently their
daughter, to view a scene which was calculated to drive sleep from the
child's eyes for many nights, if not to produce a permanent injury to
her nervous system. The comments of the crowd were varied. Some remarked
on the efficacy of this style of cure for rapists, others rejoiced that
men's wives and daughters were now safe from this wretch. Some laughed
as the flesh cracked and blistered, and while a large number pronounced
the burning of a dead body as a useless episode, not in all that throng
was a word of sympathy heard for the wretch himself.

The rope that was used to hang the Negro, and also that which was used
to lead him from the jail, were eagerly sought by relic hunters. They
almost fought for a chance to cut off a piece of rope, and in an
incredibly short time both ropes had disappeared and were scattered in
the pockets of the crowd in sections of from an inch to six inches long.
Others of the relic hunters remained until the ashes cooled to obtain
such ghastly relics as the teeth, nails, and bits of charred skin of the
immolated victim of his own lust. After burning the body the mob tied a
rope around the charred trunk and dragged it down Main Street to the
c