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Domestic News
August 6, 1841
Southern Shield
Helena, Phillips County, Arkansas
What is this article about?
A mob of about 200 people in Williamson, Kentucky, stormed the jail and lynched three men—Smith, Hays, and Cooke—accused of murdering drover Utterback, executing them at the crime scene instead of allowing legal trial.
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Full Text
From the Kentucky Gazette
A MOB—IN KENTUCKY.
We regret that in Kentucky, any respectable number of persons could be found so disregardful of the laws of the land as to deliberately set them at defiance, and in doing so perpetrate themselves the most diabolical act known to the law. It appears that on Saturday last about 200 persons collected around the Jail of Williamson, in which Smith, Hays and Cooke were confined on the charge of the murder of a drover by the name of Utterback, and demanded them of the Jailor for execution. They took these persons to the place where Utterback was murdered, erected a scaffold, and executed each according to the form of Judge Lynch, in such cases made and provided. Such lawless exercise of power and abuse of justice should be visited with the severest punishment of the law. Hays, Smith and Cook were probably guilty of the charge against them, and in the hands of the officers of the law, and if guilty, would have been punished according to law. This violent arresting from the appropriate tribunals the trial and punishment of these men, amounts to the crime of murder and should be punished as such.
A MOB—IN KENTUCKY.
We regret that in Kentucky, any respectable number of persons could be found so disregardful of the laws of the land as to deliberately set them at defiance, and in doing so perpetrate themselves the most diabolical act known to the law. It appears that on Saturday last about 200 persons collected around the Jail of Williamson, in which Smith, Hays and Cooke were confined on the charge of the murder of a drover by the name of Utterback, and demanded them of the Jailor for execution. They took these persons to the place where Utterback was murdered, erected a scaffold, and executed each according to the form of Judge Lynch, in such cases made and provided. Such lawless exercise of power and abuse of justice should be visited with the severest punishment of the law. Hays, Smith and Cook were probably guilty of the charge against them, and in the hands of the officers of the law, and if guilty, would have been punished according to law. This violent arresting from the appropriate tribunals the trial and punishment of these men, amounts to the crime of murder and should be punished as such.
What sub-type of article is it?
Riot Or Protest
Crime
Execution
What keywords are associated?
Kentucky Mob
Lynching
Murder Accusation
Judge Lynch
What entities or persons were involved?
Smith
Hays
Cooke
Utterback
Where did it happen?
Williamson, Kentucky
Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Williamson, Kentucky
Event Date
On Saturday Last
Key Persons
Smith
Hays
Cooke
Utterback
Outcome
smith, hays, and cooke were executed by hanging on a scaffold erected at the murder site.
Event Details
About 200 persons collected around the Jail of Williamson, demanded the three prisoners charged with Utterback's murder from the Jailor, took them to the murder site, erected a scaffold, and executed them via lynching.