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For Assaulting and Murdering Bessie Mae Morrison Friday Morning near Dady Post office in this County.

Last Friday morning little miss Bessie Mae Morrison, the 13 year old daughter of Mrs. Gus Morrison, a widow residing near Dady in the extreme north western part of this county, was assaulted by three Negro brutes while on her way to school, and after accomplishing their fiendish purpose the black imps clubbed their innocent little victim to death and concealed the body in a near-by pond by piling heave wood upon it.

The failure of the little girl to return home at the usual hour in the afternoon caused the mother to feel uneasy and after waiting a reasonable time a search was instituted. The news spread rapidly over the settlement that the little girl was missing and all of Friday night the search was pressed with vigor. A slight track of a struggle by the road leading to the school house was found and this led to the arrest of a Negro who had been dipping turpentine in that vicinity during the day. The Negro was hand in custody and the search of the missing girl was continued until Saturday morning about 7 o’clock when the body was discovered in a pond where it had been weighted down by heavy wood, only an arm protruding above the surface of the water.

The body was removed and immediately taken to the home of the mother, and it was at this time that the searching party turned into a mob of infuriated men who were bent on finding the perpetrators of one of the most heinous and brutal crimes ever committed in Holmes county.

The mob closely questioned the first Negro arrested and he implicated another Negro named “Bunk” who was immediately found and arrested, and “persuaded” to tell what he knew of the crime he acknowledged to it and connected the first Negro arrested with it and also implicated a third. He was soon located and brought face to face the three confessed to the awful crime.

The mob, thinking officers might rush in a attempt to block their intention, decided to end the lives of three worthless imps in the quickest and surest way, and the trio of black demons were lined up and their bodies perforated by bullets from a least five hundred guns.

News of the trouble did not reach Bonifay until late Saturday afternoon and Sheriff Hickman immediately left for the scene. Reaching Westville he was informed by telephone that the trouble had subsided and everything was quiet and peaceable again, and the Sheriff returned to Bonifay on the last rain Saturday night.

Since the lynching of the three Negroes Saturday various rumors have been afloat to the effect that another Negro, who had knowledge of the crime, had been captured and dealt with in the same manner as the first three but this report is incorrect although a fourth Negro was arrested but he satisfied the crowd that he was in no way connected with the crime or had any knowledge of it and he was allowed to go. No further trouble is expected as the mob has dispersed and the citizens have returned to their work, but it is said that “coons” are few and far between in that community just now.