Wichita County, Texas
Crime Stories

A Texas Lynching Wichita Falls Bank Robbers Strung Up They Killed Cashier Dorsey - One of them was Lewis Younger of Neosho, Mo. - He Jeered and Cursed the Crowd While They Were Hanging Him Wichita Falls, Texas, Feb. 27 - At 8:30 last night, a mob of several thousand persons attacked the jail here, where Foster Crawford and "The Kid" were confined. After a show of resistance on the part of the authorities, the mob battered in the jail doors and forcibly took possession of the prisoners. The two men were taken to the bank which they attempted to rob Tuesday, and an improvised scaffold was erected. The first impulse of the mob was to burn the prisoners, but calmer counsel prevailed. Yells of "Hang "The Kid" first" went up. Then others, "No, Hang the oldest first." "The Kid" refused to say a word, and those having him in charge yanked him onto a box. The scene was a weird one. One had on high heeled boots, black pants and a deep red flannel shirt, which added a gruesome brilliance to the scene. In a moment the rope was about his neck and a man whose horse had been taken, fixed one end across the crossbar. All this time "The Kid" was jeering at the audience, laughing and cursing. He never quivered. He was asked to say what he wanted, and was told he would be given a hearing. He said: "That's all right. If you are impatient, swing me up now. I ain't afraid to die, not a d-n bit of it. Pull the rope." A voice in the audience: "You are going to die now. Tell us your name." "The Kid:" "My name is Younger Lewis, and my father and mother reside at Neosho, Mo." "Any message?" from a voice in the crowd. "Well, tell my father I was not scared a bit; that I died like a nervy man." "Anything for your mother?" "No, not a word. She will see the message to the old man. Say, you fellows go and look in that dugout and you will find $10,600 there." "The Kid," or Younger Lewis, as he at the last moment says he was, continued laughing and chatting with the crowd, poking fun at them and cursing for a moment and then some one yelled: "Time is up." "The Kid: said: "I am 20 years old, and robbed that ---- ----- bank. I am dead game and ready to die. Go ahead." In an instant he was pulled up above the throng. He never quivered or kicked. He just went up in the air and was left hanging. Men on the frontier for years and years say no gamer man ever died. He was the coolest man in all the great crowd. All the while Crawford was a spectator of the scene. He began to weaken and confessed, giving some valuable information. He placed the responsibility for the crime on the "Kid." The mob pulled him onto the improvised platform next to the bank he attempted to rob, and his head was about on a level with the dangling feet of his companion. He asked for Captain Burnett. The latter was a spectator in the crowd. He went to Crawford and had a long talk. Crawford had worked on Burnett's ranch for years and was a trusted man. He began stealing his employer's stock, however, and associating with territory outlaws. Crawford confessed to the bank robbery, but denied the murder. He was a small man, poorly clad, with red face and short clipped black mustache. When they began to look for a second rope, he begged for whiskey. It was given to him. He talked and then begged for more. He again addressed the crowd in Comanche, English and Spanish. Those who understood him say his utterances were incoherent. The rope soon arrived and it was put about his neck. He fell, either in a faint, or from the whiskey he had drank. He was soon strung up along with his companion and their bodies are still dangling in mid-air. The lynched man raided the City National bank at Wichita Falls, Texas, Tuesday afternoon, killing Cashier Frank Dorsey and wounding Bookkeeper P. P. Langford. They were captured nine miles from town, after a flight of an hour. The robbers were in a thicket surrounded by pursuers and surrendered only when all hope was gone. They were taken to Wichita Falls and State rangers guarded them all night. Yesterday morning a mob gathered for the purpose of lynching the two robbers, but feared to advance on the jail as long as the rangers were inside with the prisoners. Last night the rangers left and the mob soon had the men. The Langston City Herald Langston City, O. T. February 22, 1896