Amer Green Falls a Victim to Their Wrath at Delphi.
Chicago Tribune October 22, 1887
Author unknown.
Delphi, Ind. Oct 21. – (Special) – At about midnight tonight those of our citizens who happened to be on the streets were startled by the appearance of a large body of men making their way into the city. It needed no second glance to tell that they were bound on a mission of death. Quietly they made their way to the county jail, and after stationing guards to each avenue approaching they proceeded to break in the doors of the Sheriff’s residence. That official was awakened by the crash of timbers as the doors were crushed in, and came out, when the leader of the mob demanded the keys to the prison. The Sheriff refused to deliver them and he was taken in band by other members of the organization.
A sledgehammer was then brought forward, and after a few hard blows the locks dropped to the floor. Entering the mob rushed directly up-stairs to the cell-rooms and made an attack on the locks there. It required some time to break the combination by which the cells were locked, but once at the levers the leader reached in and pulled one which opened the cell containing Amer Green, the abductor and murderer of Luella Mabbitt. The prisoner was gruffly ordered to get up and dress, which he mechanically did, and he was pushed forward at the muzzle of a cocked revolver. When the outside was reached he was placed in a covered wagon in deadness and the crowd moved off.
The mob consisted of 180 men, all armed. The men made little attempt to disguise themselves. Each wore a handkerchief over the lower part of his face.
In addition to the regularly organized mob a crowd of probably 100 men was near at hand. Before reaching the city the avengers had tied their horses on the outskirts and proceeded into the city with nothing but the wagon in which the murderer was placed. Their destination was stated to be Walnut Grove, a locality which is near where the crime with which Green was charged was committed. Some of the mob remarked that they would torture Green and make him confess. Green realized that his time had come, and maintained the stolid indifference which has characterized him since he was captured. The mob was composed of Cass and Carroll County men and their determined manner left no doubt that they intended to forever settle question as to Amer Green’s fate. They took him to a point about eight miles south of the city and soon after the report was received that he had been lynched.
Green was brought to Delphi Tuesday from Michigan City, where he had been for safe-keeping. Yesterday he was arraigned before the court but a flaw was found in the indictment against him. He was remanded to jail to await the action of a special grand jury.
William Walker, who was confined in another part of the jailed, charged with being an accessory of Green in the murder of Miss Mabbitt, was secreted in the cupola of the jail residence by a deputy sheriff when the mob broke in after Green.
[The crime with which Green was charged was the abduction and murder of Luella Mabbitt, living near Young America, with whom he had been keeping company. They quarreled and one night in August 1885, Green went to the house and demanded to see her. After some parleying she went out walking with him and was foully murdered. Her remains were found in the Wabash River near Lafayette. Green made his escape, but was finally captured in Texas and brought back for trial.]
Photograph of Amer Green’s lynching
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