Carter, Louisville Courier-Journal, February 12, 1901

Bad Man

Hanged at Courthouse Gate in Paris– George Carter the Victim– Mob Composed of About Twenty-Five Men– The Negro’s Black Record

Paris, Ky., Feb. 11– [Special]– George Carter, a negro aged about twenty-one years, was hanged to the arch over the gateway to the courthouse square at 2 o’clock this morning by an assembly of twenty-five white citizens, as the penalty of an attempted assault on the wife of W.E. Board, teller of the Paris Deposit Bank.

Carter had served two terms in the State prison and was a desperate character, and was in the Paris jail awaiting trial for criminal assault on a charge made by his sister-in-law, Carter was identified yesterday as the negro who attempted to assault Mrs. Board, and at 2 o’clock this morning the outer jail door was forced open and a crowd of men demanded the keys.

The Jailer Overpowered

Jailer Kiser was overpowered and Carter’s cell was unlocked and he was taken in his bare feet and thin underclothing and marched two blocks to the courthouse, where he was questioned as to his guilt. He stolidly refrained from making reply. He was swung by his neck to a tree and the rope broke. Then he was hanged to the gateway arch, where his body this morning was viewed by hundreds. A paper was pinned to his clothing which read: “There is no law for such as Carter.”

Jailer Kiser was unable to recognize any of the members of the mob. The work was done so quietly and thoroughly that not a soul outside of the participants knew of the mob’s work until this morning.

The dead body of Carter was allowed to swing until 8:30, when acting Coroner Thomas had it cut down and removed to a colored undertaker’s establishment, where the inquest was held and a verdict of “death by strangulation at the hand of unknown parties” was rendered.