All business has been suspended, and the town is under military patrol, and every male inhabitant is armed to the teeth, in anticipation of an outbreak which is expected to-night.
Last night nine Negroes were arrested and placed in the warehouse near the depot. The Negroes were charged with the burning of the two business blocks here in February.
At 1 o’clock this morning the mob dashed into town while the people slept.
They rushed to the warehouse in which the nine Negroes were guarded by six white men.
The door was burst open and the guards were ordered to hold up their hands.
Then the mob fired two volleys into the line of trembling, wretched and pleading prisoners, and to make sure of their work, placed pistols in the dying men’s faces and emptied the chambers.
Citizens who were aroused by the shooting and ran out to investigate the cause were driven to their homes at the point of guns and pistols and then the mob mounted their horses and dashed out of town, back into the woods and home again.
None of the mob was recognized, as their faces were completely concealed by masks. The men did their work orderly and coolly and exhibited a determination seldom equaled under similar circumstances.
The nine Negroes were tied with ropes and were helpless.
The guard was held at the muzzle of guns and threatened with death if a man moved.
Then the firing was deliberately done, volley by volley.
The Negroes now dead are: Tip Hudson, Bud Cotton, Ed Wynn, Henry Bingham.
Escaped without injury: Ison Brown, Clem Watts.
The men who were guarding the Negroes are well known and prominent citizens of Palmetto, and were sworn in only yesterday as a special guard for the night.
The commitment trial of the Negroes was set for 9 o’clock this morning.
Bud Cotton, who was killed, had confessed to the burning of the stores in Palmetto, and had implicated all the others who had been arrested.
The military having been sent by Governor Candler arrived at 10:40 o’clock this morning on a special train under command of Colonel John S. Candler.
The Negro population of Palmetto has fled from town and it is believed the Negroes are now congregating on the outskirts and will make an assault upon the town to-night.