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Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Lynching of Man Accused of Raping 16-Year-Old Averted in Hickory, April 30, 1919

From the Hickory Daily Record, April 30, 1919. The victim’s last name was spelled two different ways in the newspaper; I’ve typed it as it was written and don’t know which is correct.

Mob Attempts to Lynch Negro Accused of Crime. . . Enraged Citizens Storm Jail at Newton. . . Tom Gwin, Believed to Be Guilty of Assaulting Young Catawba County Girl West of Hickory Last Evening

One of the most diabolical crimes ever committed in North Carolina occurred yesterday afternoon near the Burke and Catawba county line when a 16-year-old daughter of Mr. John Hildebran, who lives in Catawba county, was waylaid and criminally assaulted by a negro assumed to be Tom Gwin, employed as a driver by the Burke county road commissioners. The young girl was on her way home from the high school at Hickory and the assailant, who had stopped his team off the main sand-clay road, dragged her into the woods several yards from the main road and accomplished his purpose.

Following the girl’s return home, the alarm was given and Chief Lentz and Sergeant Sigmon of Hickory and Deputy Sheriff of W.L. Eckard of Icard arrested Gwin at the Burke county road camp at Valdese. He was carried to the Newton jail and again spirited from that place by Sheriff Isenhower after a mob of 40 enraged men had broken down the wooden doors in an effort to lynch him. It was not stated where the negro was taken.

That Gwin had planned his foul crime is known by the fact that he left the main road on which he was hauling and drove his team along the road leading to Mr. Hildebrand’s house. The young lady attends the Hickory high school and twice each day rides to and fro on her bicycle. Mr. M.D. Arney saw the team standing on the side of the road shortly before the storm came up, and it seems that the criminal had been there an hour.

He left his team, went into the woods and, as the girl came by on her bicycle, he jumped in front of her and after stopping her, carried her off into the woods. There he remained with her for an hour, she told Dr. T.C. Blackburn, who was called last evening. The negro also threatened to kill her, but he permitted her to escape and the alarm was given.

Feeling in the whole community was tense today. In Hickory the affair was not generally known until this morning, the officers fearing violence. There was much indignation today in Hickory.
In a telephone conversation today, Mr. Hildebran, father of the young lady, said that she had described Tom Gwin perfectly. She had often seen him and he was a familiar figure along the road, as he was employed as a driver by the Burke road authorities. Gwin also knew that Miss Hildebrand attended school in Hickory. He had no occasion for leaving the main road yesterday, but he turned his team into the highway leading to Mr. Hildebrand’s home and fed his animals while he himself went into the woods to stop the school girl. Mr. Arney also noticed the team that Gwin had been driving near the woods. While he has not been positively identified, it is felt by the father and friends that Gwin is the brute.

Gwin is described as a mulatto and weighing about 200 pounds.

When Chief Lentz was notified, he and Sergeant Sigmon went immediately in chase, and together with Deputy Sheriff Eckard of Burke county, found the negro at the camp at Valdese. He was carried to the jail at Newton.

Dr. Blackburn said today that the victim was doing fairly well. She was nervous and restless during the night but was able to sit up for a while this morning. The victim was a pretty and attractive school girl and in Hickory she had many friends among the boys and girls of high school. This was her first year in the high school.

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How Newton Jailer Prevented Trouble

Newton, April 30—This morning about 1 o’clock Jailer J.O. Gilbert was awakened by some one entering the front door of the jail. When the jailer got to the door he was met by between 50 and 60 men who demanded to know if a negro by the name of Tom Gwin was in jail. He told them the negro was in jail. They at once entered the jail and started up the stairs, where the negro was confined in what is known as the big cell. The locks on two doors through which the crowd had to enter before reaching the cell where the negro was confined, were broken off.

Failing to open the big cell which has a combination lock, the men then threatened to shoot the negro in the cell, but the jailer prevailed upon the crowd not to do that, as there were several others in the same cell and they might shoot the wrong man. The jailer told the men he was expecting them and that the sheriff had taken the keys of the jail with him to Conover. In the meantime the Sheriff was phoned to be on the lookout.

James Yount, an ex-policeman of Newton, who was on the scene, phoned Town Electrician W.R. Abernethy to turn the lights on, the town being in darkness at that time. This was at once done and the posse left. As soon as the posse left the negro was removed to another town for safe keeping.
The jailer kept his nerve or the negro would undoubtedly have been lynched. The men came in several automobiles and are thought to have been from the scene of the crime.

The negro wanted was placed in jail on the charge of assault upon a young white woman, about 16 years of age, in the western part of town.

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From the editorial page of the Hickory Daily Record, April 30, 1919

Let’s Be Law-Abiding

Catawba county people are justly indignant over the affair that occurred in the suburbs of Hickory last yesterday, but it is better that only one crime has been committed in this county. The action of Sheriff Isenhower in spiriting the negro prisoner out of the Newton jail after a mob had broken into the place deserves commendation.

The white men of Catawba county will sit as jurors in the trial of the defendant. The law is plain, and if the negro is found guilty, he will pay the extreme penalty.

In the meantime every man who tried to take part in a lynching should be thankful that he was thwarted in his purpose. We cannot afford to be jungaleers, even though we feel that no punishment is too mild for the offense like that which occurred near here.

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