Coleman, Louisville Courier-Journal, December 7, 1899

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Richard Coleman, colored, the confessed murderer of Mrs. James Lashbrooke, was burned to death by a mob at Maysville yesterday. Immediately upon his arrival from Covington in charge of the officers he was surrounded by several thousand people. On one of the principal streets of the city the officers were overpowered and their prisoner seized. He was taken to a small hollow in the outskirts of town and bound to a sapling. Brush and timber were healed around and over him and set on fire and Coleman was slowly burned to death, the frenzied crowd subjecting him to various kinds of torture before and during the burning, which lasted some three hours. No attempt at disguise was made by the men who composed the mob, which was led by the husband, relatives and friends of the woman murdered by Coleman two months ago.

Title: Burned At Stake

Richard Coleman Meets Death at Hands of a Frenzied Mob– Snatched Away from County Officers– At Maysville and Forced in Helpless Terror to the Scene of Torture– Bound Alive with Ropes to a Tree– And Tortured and Roasted While Thousands Looked on at His Sufferings– Relatives of Young Coleman’s Victim– Took the Lead in the Mob’s Fiendish Work and the Murdered Woman’s Husband Lighted the Funeral Pile– Story of the Crime Which Led to His Fate

Maysville, Ky., Dec. 6.— [Special]— Richard Coleman, colored, the confessed murderer of Mrs. James Lashbrooke, was burned at the stake here today by a mob of several thousand people, who overpowered the officers and seized the prisoner on the way uptown after the arrival of the train from Covington at 10:10 o’clock this morning. It was a scene the like of which probably was never before witnessed in Kentucky; certainly not since the days of Indian warfare has there been a parallel to the three hours’ horrible work of the frenzied mob which tortured and burned the young negro murderer while thousands of people looked on with mingled exclamations of horror and approbation and others turned away sickened by the awful sight. The dreadful spectacle took place on the peaceful cricket grounds on the outskirts of this, one of the oldest cities in Kentucky. The barbarities inflicted upon this young negro by the citizens of one of the most highly civilized cities of the State are almost beyond belief, and can only be accounted for by the intense horror created by long consideration of the atrocious crime, of which full confession had been made by Coleman.

In all thousands who constituted the mob, there was not a single effort made to disguise or conceal identity. No man wore a mask. All the leaders of the mob are well known, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of witnesses who can testify to their participation in the tragedy. They are leading citizens in all lines of business, and some are members of churches.

Violence Was Not Expected

Yesterday when Circuit Judge Harbeson ordered Coleman to be brought from the Covington jail to stand trial today the consensus of opinion was that the law would be allowed to take its course. Indeed, Judge Harbeson had assurance from some of the leader’s of today’s mob that no violence would be attempted.

There was no call made upon the Governor for troops to protect the prisoner. Yesterday Sheriff Perrine, under orders of Judge Harbeson, with four assistants, went to Covington, expecting to return with Coleman last night, but after reaching Covington the Jailer at Maysville wired him not to attempt to bring the prisoner into Maysville at night.

Sheriff Perrine determined to leave Covington by the train on the Chesapeake and Ohio, which started at 8:30 o’clock this morning from Cincinnati. Coleman had been apprised last night to prepare to return to the scene of the crime. He was instantly stricken with fear, and begged piteously to be permitted to remain in Covington until after his trial. He said he expected to die, but he dreaded the vengeance of a mob. When he was handcuffed, on leaving the jail in Covington, he was almost paralyzed with terror, and had to be assisted to the patrol wagon. The crowd about the jail there and at the Covington depot added to his fear. On entering the train he seemed unable to sit down until one of the guards forced him into the seat.

Arrival at Maysville

Court was in session this morning when the train from Covington arrived bearing Coleman, in the custody of Sheriff Perrine, Deputy Roberson and Detective Edward W. Fitzgerald. 

Last night a crowd of several hundred met the late train that was expected to bring Coleman, but the assembly was considered to be more out of morbid curiosity than hostile intent. The Coleman crime had aroused general interest throughout the county, and the presence this morning of an unusually large crowd did not cause much apprehension among the court officers.

The Rush of the Mob

When the Sheriff and his posse were nearing the courthouse and there was a rush for the street, everybody about the building thought it was curiosity to see the negro. The people did not know just when and over what route Coleman would come; some were at the Chesapeake and Ohio depot, some at the Front-street station, and some at the jail.

At the C. and O. depot the officers fooled the crowd, making it believe they would get off at Market street. When the crowd started for Market street, the officers started in the rear with Coleman. Everything looked safe until Sutton street was reached. There the crowd at the jail could be seen, and the Sheriff and posse went on up Second to Court street, moving rapidly for the courthouse.

Seized By the Mob

Then the people seemed suddenly to swarm from everywhere, and blocked all travel. When right at the courthouse, James Lashbrooke made a sudden movement and grabbed Coleman. Immediately strong and willing hands laid hold of the officers. Some one of the guards pulled a pistol. Coleman tried to hold onto a telephone pole, but was jerked and pulled toward Second street. Hundreds of people soon stood between Coleman and the officers. Coleman was rushed up Second to Market street. The officers tried to follow, but soon realized the folly of trying to protect the prisoner.

The mob was in the heart of the city on the main business street, and the scene was tumultuous in the extreme. At Market street the mob paused and called for a rope. Several well-known citizens appeared with ropes in their hands. The mob moved on to Limestone street and stopped. Some one tried to get a rope over a long distance telephone pole, when the mob again started for Limestone creek bridge, dragging Coleman along by a rope that some one had thrown around his neck.

Rope Around His Neck

The frenzied crowd pushed and jostled and clamored to get at the hapless wretch. All who reached him struck him with their fists, prodded him with sticks, pounded his face and in every way they could added to the suffering of the terror-stricken brute, who, with eyes wide-distended with fear, and with hands clutching helplessly at the rope around his neck, could scarcely keep his feet in the crush.

When the bridge was reached the mob halted. Hanging him from the bridge seemed too commonplace to suit the savage mood of the furious thousands. A brief pause, and again the mob moved. Out the railroad (?) it marched to a small section house, and again stopped. The leaders hurriedly conferred, but the tossing crowd was growing impatient, and various cries of “Hang him” came from hundreds of throats.“Burn him,” roared a big voice somewhere out in the seething mass of people, and “Burn him” echoed hundreds on the instant. The mad mob caught at the word eagerly. That was what it wanted. That suited them better than hanging from a bridge. “Burn him,” roared the multitude, and the leaders acted on the word. 

Taken to the Stake

Swiftly then was the dreadful work done. Of one accord the crowd crossed over to the Kentucky Central roundhouse, where a few feet in the rear nature had formed a hollow square with a high bank nearly all the way around. Several thousand people soon stood on this bank, which was so situated that about one-fourth of the population of the city could see from their homes the awful tragedy about to be enacted.

The leaders of the mob, representing mostly the relatives of Mrs. Lashbrooke, assembled within this square while Coleman was being pushed over this bank. He was pulled by the rope around the neck to the center, where there grew a small sapling tree, around which the rope was securely wrapped and Coleman’s body pinioned to the tree. His breeches were pulled off and an effort made to strip him, which the tight ropes partially prevented.

Lashbrooke Lighted the Fire

Some one yelled for coal oil, and quick as a flash runners started out for it. A prominent Maysville business man gathered an armload of weeds and threw at Coleman’s feet. Others took the hint, and in a few moments Coleman was covered in weeds and brush. He had fallen to the ground and pieces of stumps and railroad ties were piled on the weeds. Several persons made efforts to apply the match, but they were brushed aside and James Lashbrooke, the husband of Coleman’s victim, lighted the funeral pile.

Vitriol Poured Into His Eyes

The weeds burned like straw, while the mob gazed on with fiendish satisfaction. Before covering Coleman with weeds a relative of Mrs. Lashbrooke rushed forward, and, while companions held Coleman’s head, poured into the negro’s eyes and nose and mouth a bottle of cayenne pepper and vitriol, which caused the blood to run all over his face.

When the flames began to burn Coleman wriggled his head outside of the line of heat. As soon as the crowd noticed this they made a rush and shoved and pulled him back into the fire. Coleman was evidently in such a state of mental and bodily agony that he collapsed after he was tied to the tree and from the moment the mob took him from the officers until he was burned to death no sound of terror, pain or anguish escaped his lips. The mob stirred up the burning coals and logs about Coleman with no more feeling than a stoked making his fire under a steamboat boiler.

Coal Oil Poured On

When the coal oil man arrived the oil was smeared all over Coleman and the flames leapt high in the air.

Even school children were seen gathering weeds to throw on the fire. Strong men on the bank with tears in their eyes were heard to exclaim: “My God, this is awful,” which was met with the response: “Yes, but not more terrible than Coleman’s treatment of Mrs. Lashbrooke.”

Women as Onlookers

Strange to relate many women looked on at the work of the mob, and it is a significant fact that from the commission of the crime, October 5, some of the best women of the county demanded that Coleman be mobbed.

At the depot this morning a woman of higher standing said to a gentleman who met her, after the crowd had gone up town without taking Coleman: “I thought you Maysville men had some courage.”

Grewsome Momentoes

When it became certain that Coleman was dead the persons present began securing momentoes of the awful occasion. They took buttons from his clothes, pieces of clothing, twigs from the sapling and some took out their knives and cut off fingers and toes, which they wrapped in paper and stowed away carefully in their pockets. A few knocked out teeth from the dead man’s mouth for grewsome keepsakes. The mutilation of the body by relic hunters was sickening to behold.

Coleman;s remains burned for several hours before Squire Jacob Miller, the acting Coroner, proceeded to hold an inquest over what little was left of Coleman by the mob, the flames and the relic seekers.

Negroes Watched the Mob

While the mob was at work the negroes of Maysville stood off in small groups looking on. Some were very sullen in their manner, and after it was over a few expressed the opinion that a white man would not have been treated that way. The better class of negroes, however, say that Coleman got no more than he deserved.

The coroner’s meeting was largely attended by the negroes, and a few seemed anxious to tell the jury what they saw. There was very little evidence introduced, as most of the jury were eyewitnesses to the tragedy.

There was no political complexion to the mob, and all citizens say the punishment meted out to Coleman was no more horrible than his crime.

Court Adjourns

Judge Harbeson has adjourned his court until next week. To-day's doings have shocked the community as it was never shocked before, and no one is thinking of anything else. The ugly affair is is greatly deplored by the court officials, but they are blameless, as every one knows that they did what they could without shedding innocent blood. To-day's mob was composed of the leading citizens of the town and county. The leaders were representative men. While Mr. Lashbrooke's neighbors inspired the mob, many well-known business men were active participants in its work.

Coleman's Crime

The crime for which Coleman was mobbed was one of the most revolting in the history of Mason County.

On the evening of October 5 Coleman, the trusted employe [sic] of Farmer James Lashbrooke, in a moment of depravity and savagery not equaled in the annals of crime, murdered the woman who had been his benefactress. Coleman was not only employed on the farm, but had been installed as a house servant, and was trusted implicitly by both Mr. Lashbrooke and his wife. On the day of the murder Mr. Lashbrooke was at work some distance away from the house Coleman was left in charge of the house. Mrs. Lashbrooke had driven to Maysville and returned, when Coleman asked her to enter the cabin to look at some work at which he had been engaged. The negro locked the door on the inside. Mrs. Lashbrooke became frightened and screamed, Coleman struck her on the head, knocking her down, but not stopping her cries. He then seized a razor and cut her throat. He picked up the bleeding body and placed it on the bed. He then left the room, but returning, heard her groaning, and, with an ax he struck her repeatedly on the head until he was sure she was dead. Without any show of alarm or remorse for his crime, the negro calmly washed the blood from his hands and clothing and went to where Mr. Lashbrooke was at work in the field and told him that he had better come to the house, as someone killed his wife. Mr. Lashbrooke did not take the matter seriously until Coleman insisted that his wife was dead. Even then, so great was the confidence of Mr. Lashbrooke in Coleman, no thought occurred that he was the murderer. It was not until after officers arrived that suspicion was directed against Coleman. Blood spots had been found on his clothing, but he accounted for that by saying he had been killing chickens.

His Confessions

That night, however, at Maysville, a partial confession was obtained, and, knowing the result if that fact should become known, the officers moved him to Covington for safekeeping. He was indicted for the murder. Shortly after his incarceration at Covington he made a complete and horrible confession of his crime to the jailer. The story of his revolting crime, including worse than murder, was told without any appearance of feeling by the prisoner. This confession becoming public, roused the feelings of indignation that culminated in to-day's horror.

Previous Attempts at Lynching

On the night that Coleman confessed a mob made a futile attempt to get him out of the Mason county jail. The next day County Judge Newell sent Coleman to the Covington jail for safekeeping. The train taking the prisoner to Covington had just left the depot when a large party of farmers rode into Maysville on horseback for the avowed purpose of lynching Coleman. Circuit Judge Harbeson was then appealed to to [sic] impanel a special grand jury to indict Coleman, which appeal was not granted on account of Circuit Court being in session in Bracken county.