Abe Witherup
Abe Witherup was held in the jail at Paris, Missouri, in May 1902. According to the Evening Times-Republican, he spoke calmly and rationally to the crowd and answered its questions. The paper reports that after midnight on May 25, a mob of more than 100 men came to the jail, where Sheriff Clark and his deputies first held the door with drawn revolvers, but the crowd returned with sledge hammers and iron bars, overpowered the officers, broke down the door, and took him from his cell to a bridge at the north edge of town and hanged him. The county attorney said he had the names of the crowd's leaders and would prosecute them, and the Abilene Weekly Reflector reports that a man who rushed into the jail to urge the mob to let the law take its course was pushed aside.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took Abe Witherup from the Paris, Missouri jail and hanged him from a bridge at the north edge of town, and the county attorney said he had the names of the crowd's leaders and would prosecute them.
Reported by: Kansas City Journal special dispatch from Paris (reporters); Newport Weekly Independent (reporters); county attorney.
Sources (9)
- The San Francisco Call, May 26, 1902, page 7
- Evening Times-Republican, May 26, 1902, page 2
- Phillipsburg Herald, May 28, 1902, page 1
- The Bee, May 29, 1902, page 3
- Abilene Weekly Reflector, May 29, 1902, page 12
- Springfield Weekly Republican, May 30, 1902, page 3
- Woodruff County News, June 5, 1902, page 1
- Newport Weekly Independent, June 6, 1902, page 4
- Crittenden Press, June 12, 1902, page 2