se persons
were lynched for any other reason which could be manufactured by a mob
wishing to indulge in a lynching bee.

A WHITE WOMAN'S FALSEHOOD

The _Cleveland, Ohio, Gazette_, January 16, 1892, gives an account of one
of these cases of "rape."

Mrs. J.C. Underwood, the wife of a minister of Elyria, Ohio, accused an
Afro-American of rape. She told her husband that during his absence in
1888, stumping the state for the Prohibition Party, the man came to the
kitchen door, forced his way in the house and insulted her. She tried to
drive him out with a heavy poker, but he overpowered and chloroformed her,
and when she revived her clothing was torn and she was in a horrible
condition. She did not know the man, but could identify him. She
subsequently pointed out William Offett, a married man, who was arrested,
and, being in Ohio, was granted a trial.

The prisoner vehemently denied the charge of rape, but confessed he went
to Mrs. Underwood's residence at her invitation and was criminally
intimate with her at her request. This availed him nothing against the
sworn testimony of a minister's wife, a lady of the highest
respectability. He was found guilty, and entered the penitentiary,
December 14, 1888, for fifteen years. Sometime afterwards the woman's
remorse led her to confess to her husband that the man was innocent. These
are her words: "I met Offett at the postoffice. It was raining. He was
polite to me, and as I had several bundles in my arms he offered to carry
them home for me, which he did. He had a strange fascination for me, and I
invited him to call on me. He called, bringing chestnuts and candy for the
children. By this means we got them to leave us alone in the room. Then I
sat on his lap. He made a proposal to me and I readily consented. Why I
did so I do not know, but that I did is true. He visited me several times
after that and each time I was indiscreet. I did not care after the first
time. In fact I could not have resisted, and had no desire to resist."

When asked by her husband why she told him she had been outraged, she
said: "I had several reasons for telling you. One was the neighbors saw
the fellow here, another was, I was afraid I had contracted a loathsome
disease, and still another was that I feared I might give birth to a Negro
baby. I hoped to save my reputation by telling you a deliberate lie." Her
husband, horrified by the confession, had Offett, who had already served
four years, re