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Oconee County, Georgia
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One of the Victims Was a White Man. Horror in Georgia Watkinsville, Oconee County, Scene
MOB WAS DETERMINED AND HEAVILY MASKED '
Town Marshal and Jailer Begged Mob to Spare the White Man, Against Whom There Was Little Evidence.
Watkinsville, Ga. June 29,
A mob entered the jail at Watkinsville at 2 o'clock this morning and took there from nine prisoners, eight of whom were shot to death and the ninth escaped only by being thought dead by the mob. The prisoners taken out and
lynched were: Lon J. Aycock, white, charged with the murder of  F. M. Holbrook and wife of Oconee county, and seven Negroes, Rich Robinson, Lewis Robinson, Claud Elder, charged with the murder of the Holbrook couple;
Sandy Price, a young Negro, charged with attempted rape upon the person of Mr. Weldon Donley; Rich Allen, a Negro convicted and under sentence of death for the murder of Will Robertson, another Negro; Gene Yerby,
another Negro charged with the burglary of a rifle from Mr. Marshall and Bob Harris, a Negro charged with shooting another Negro.
The mob come quietly into Watkinsville, a little before 2 a. m. There were about 50 to 75 men in the crowd. All were heavily masked and no one knows whence they came or to what point they returned, They went at once to the house of Town Marshal L. H Aiken and quietly called him to the door. As he put his head out of the door he  was seized and told that he must deliver the Jail key.  He refused and the men put pistols in his face and overpowered him, he being a rather small man, Aikin refused to dress but some of the party dressed him and carried  him along The mob next seized Courtney Elder, a blacksmith, and made him bring his tools along with him. On their way  to the jail they were met by A. W. Ashford, a prominent citizen of Watkinsville, who had  heard the noise at the marshal's house and came down town as soon as he could dress.  Mr. Ashford begged the men to desist and let the law take its course, especially pleading for Aycock on the ground that the evidence had not been secured to warrant his conviction.
He also begged them not to lynch those not charged with capital crimes. They told him that they were cool, sober and determined and that he might as well go back home and go to bed. The jail was then opened by the town marshal under cover of several pistols and inside the jail the mob held up Jailor Crow and demanded the keys to the cells. He refused at first, but surrendered then after being menaced with guns. Jailor Crow begged hard for Aytock on the same ground that Mr. Ashford did and also for the two Negroes who were not charged with capital crimes. Members of the attacking party told him to shut his mouth. They knew what to do, they said, and they were going to clear out the whole jail.
Left Only one Prisoner
The mob got every prisoner In the jail except Ed Thrasher, a Negro charged with gambling, who was on the misdemeanor  side of the prison and was not noticed The prisoners were carried to a point some 100 yards from the jail and tied to three fence posts by their necks, Aycock protested his innocence to the last. He said they were killing an innocent man. While the general belief in Oconee county is that Aycock was not guilty, still there were many who did not believe so. Rich Robinson said it was all right, to far as he was concerned, but that three more Negroes were in the Holbrook murder.  He named Sidney Norris, Jim Taylor and Wiley Durham as the three implicated. These Negroes had been in jail before on this charge and had been released after full investigation by the committee. The other prisoners did not open their mouths during their march to their doom. After the prisoners had been tied to the fence posts, the mob lined up and fired five volleys into their bodies. All died  without a struggle, with the exception of Joe Patterson, a Negro who was charged with pointing a gun at Albert Ward.  Patterson was shot several times In the body but was found alive.
Date: 1905-06-30; Paper State