Show Ijss EARRING JOE HUNG The Murderer of the Ray Girls Lynched H PROTESTS INNOCENCE Afterwards I Was Said Ho Confessed the Horrible Crime After Ho Was Strung Up His Cody Was Horribly Mutilated and Then the Remains Were CrematedLast Act of the Kentucky Tragedy BARDWELL Ky July 7Seny J Miller the negro charged with the outrage out-rage and murder of Mary and Ruby Kay was hanged at 327 this afternoon and the I body burned after being horribly muti lated Tho negro made a speech proclaiming pro-claiming his innocence but it is said he afterward made a partial confession I Thasteamer Three States with several I hundred men from Cairo on bbard met j I the special train from Sikeston at Birds j Point The prisoner was put on the boat and taken to Wyck life Frank Gordon the fisherman who ferried the murderer across the Mississippi Missis-sippi river on Wednesday night identified identi-fied Miller as the Eame man Still Miller I pleaded innocence and Ray father of them the-m a rdered girls counselled patience I was finally agreed to hang him at 3 oclock and the negro was placed In jail to await the time when he would be tme called forth At 3 oclock the negro was brought from the jail to the principal street a I chain around his neck and many men I pulling at it The crowd was wild and no one could guess at the fate of the negro I ne-gro He was most suffocated when the north end of the depot was reached and the father of the girls I relented to some extent and suggested I that he be hanged rather than burned At 327 the body was swung to a telegraph pole directly at the north end of the depot and as he was drawn up his clothes were torn from his body by the maddened mob He was heard to say just as they drew him up Im an innocent man But there is a fully authenticated report that he made a partial confession as the mob took him from the jail The confession con-fession implicates his partner but nothing noth-ing positive am be learned fhe mob brought the prisoner to this city arriving at 430 oclock There were not less than 5000 men at the depot and the train was crowded Previous to this an agreement was made by the people peo-ple to allow the father of the children to prescribe the punishment Sheriff Hudson Hud-son the prisoner and guards mounted a scaffold which had been erected and John Ray father of the murdered girls made a talk in which he said This is the man who killed my chil dren but let us keep quiet now and at the proper time burn him The negro was called upon and responded re-sponded promptly and with wonderful nerve considering the circumstances under which he was placed His voice was clear and he seemed oblivious to his surroundings His exact words were as ifollows My name is Seay J Miller and I am from Springfield Ills I am here among you as a stranger and looked on byyou as the most brutal man that ever stood on Gods green earth I standing here an innocent man among excited men wno do not propose to let the law take its course I have committed no crime to be deprived of my liberty or life I am not guilty J At this time he was disturbed by several sev-eral questions and many called on him togo to-go on but Sheriff Hudson begged to be permitted to put him in jail and get some rest for himself which he needed badly As the negro was drawn up and when his feet were two or three feet from the ground some one shot him from the front the ball passing entirely through his body In a few minutes life was extinct it being ascertained that he was dead at 345 oclock The body was lefthanging till 425 during which time some of the toes and fingers cut off The body was finally taken down and the ears cut off and nearly near-ly all the remaining toes and fingers were severed and the body otherwise mutilated The body was then placed between two kegs and kindling piled upon i and then enough wood to complete the job of burning The crowd remained orderly to the last but very determined The men who did the hanging are from Kentucky Ten nessee Illinois and Missouri but the work was done in such a manner and the throng was so great that no man can I name an individual who participated |