Page:The Negro a menace to American civilization.djvu/158

138 There are seven of these illustrations, and they were secured by me only after extreme difficulty. For this assistance I am primarily indebted to my young friend, Mr. S. Emmet Robertson of Haskel, Texas, who interested parties in his State in my behalf; also to Mr. W. E. Sherrill of the same city for securing the name and residence of the photographer who took them. This latter was Mr. J. L, Mertins of Wolfe City, Texas, who, with marked generosity, has presented me with the entire set of these pictures, one of which (the parade) I see was taken by Mr. Hudson of Paris, Texas, who is unknown to me. Mr. Mertins, who still has photographs from these negatives for sale, has also, in my case, waived the copyright on them, so they could be employed as illustrations in the present work. To all these gentlemen my sincere thanks are herewith extended.

The criminal in this case was an unusually black and brutal negro by the name of Henry Smith, and his victim was little Myrtle Vance (æt. three years, eight months and a day), whom he outraged and murdered at Paris, Texas, where the infuriated people of the place burned him on the 1st of February, 1893, the day of his crime. My illustrations show the Vance family; the sheriffs and others at the spot where the body was found; the parade in the streets of Paris, Texas, after the negro was captured, and were leading him to the place of execution beyond the town limits; a general view of the crowd about the scaffold where Smith was burned alive; the party fastening him to the stake on the scaffold; the tortures com- menced, showing a man engaged in burning his feet with red-hot irons; the same, showing the terrible