A Queer Verdict

Corunna, May 27. - The coroner's jury in the inquest over the body of VVilliam Sullivan, who was lynched Tuesday night. returned a verdict that he had committed suicide by cutting his throat. No reference is made to the lynching. When the mob reached Sullivan's cell, he was found lying on its floor unconsoious from the loss of blood caused by a jagged gash in his throat which the unhappy man had inílicted with a piece of glass in his possession. Still many question whether he was dead or alive whenhe was taken from his cell. The details of the lynching show the affair to have been the most brutal and horrifying that ever transpired in the state. It was about 9:15 o'clock that some men wearing masks, backed up by the others, made a rush upon the side door of the jail, and with a crash burst it open. In a moment the corridor was packed with men. Sheriff Jacobs appeared in the doorway leading from the other hallway and shouted to the men to stop, at the same time making a motion to draw his revolver. In an instant the sheriff was seized and held ty half a dozen men so that he was -unable to move. He attempted to argue the matter but the lynchers would not listen. Several deputies tried to come to the assistance of the sheriff, but they were hustled out of the building. i The cell was broken open with a sled'ge, and despite the fact that Sullivan was lying on the floor unconseious, the blood flowing freely from the wound in his throat, the lynchers slipped the noose about his neck and dragged him out to the terrible doom that awaited him. As the victim was pulled out the shout that arose was tremendous, and the crowd scrambled to obtain places nearest the body. The frightened ■vretch was dragged to an oak about 200 feet from the jail and a hundred eager hands grasped the end of a rope that was thrown over a limb and in an instant the body of the murderer was dangling in the air. The body hung motionless for a moment or two, then gave a sudden twist and swung half way around the trunk of the tree. A terrible scène followed. Those nearest the body kicked and punched it back and forth and grabbed the limbs and pulled thein violently. "Let us shoothim!" shouted several. "No, don't," cried others. Meanwhile the crowd continued to jeer at Sullivan, applying to him the vilest epithets and asking with curses how he liked it. The fury of the mob seemed to increase at every moment. The body was pushed trom hand to hand and several drew their pocketknives and lunged at the swinging corpse. The maddened mob feil to pulling the body about again and kicsing it, vvhen an old man with long gray beard held his hands aloft and kept crying for silence until the crowd stopped him by shouting. When the body was lowered to the Rround portions of the mob which had been unable to get close enough to take a hand in the actual hanging seized upon the rope and dragged the lifeless body through the mire. Afterward a crowd dragged him about the streets and around the courthouse square. Every few seconds their curiosity woxüd overpower them, and they would stop to look at the body. It was a sight they will never forget. Bruises and cuts and contusions made the face unrecognizable, while the eyes were ghastly and the mouth set in the tight grip of death. Finally the crowd rounded up in front of a saloon. They were going to burn the body, but the sheriff's aids eame up and stopped the terrible work. The remains were taken to the jail. The jurors at the inquest were: Georgtí O. Chattuck, A. L. Beard, George F. Eobinson, George D. Moreau, Morris L. Chase and Henry Klinkman, all well-known citizens and business men of this place. The jury found that William Sullivau, a felón, voluntarily and with malice aforethought, made a felonious assault upon himself with a piece of broken glass and inflicted a wound b inches in length, with suicidal intent. This was all it amounted to. No mention of the other and greater occurrence was made.