This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Baker, Smith, Turner Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/hkB.2ACE/5317 Message Board Post: Galveston Daily News – Fri., 21 January 1875, p. 1, c. 4 "Barbarity Dire Sequel to the Murder of Farmer Baker The Accused Negro Tried and Convicted Within Ten Days But the Law’s Execution is Forever Stayed by a Mob First Burned to a Crisp, then Riddled with Shot" Rockdale, Jan. 20 - On the morning of the 11th, a young farmer named J. M. Baker, was murdered, 12-miles from here, on the public highway, by a negro named Anthony Smith. The particulars were as follows: Baker had been at Rockdale and sold his cotton and with the proceeds in his pocket was returning home. Some distance from the scene of the murder the negro was observed mounted on a bay pony, following close on Baker’s wagon. It was noticed that he had a gun partly concealed beneath an oil cloth coat. A white man [no name given] saw Smith shoot his victim first from the rear of the wagon, then ride to the front and shot again. The white man, being unarmed, fled for his safety. The horses which had been drawing Baker’s wagon were found straggling near by in a clump of mesquite, in which they had become entangled. It was evident that the murderer, after committing the deed, unhitched the horses from the wagon and then went about the work of robbing. He got about $50 dollars in currency, remounted and made away. The white man who saw the deed perpetrated did not at the time know who the murderer was, and it subsequently transpired that the negro’s name was Anthony Smith. On the 13th, 2-days afterward, Smith was captured and brought chained, into Rockdale by Deputy Sheriff Pete Turner, who made the arrest. Parties recognized him as the negro seen following Baker’s wagon. The white man who saw him commit the deed recognized him as the murderer. The money was found on him also. It seemed probable the murderer would receive summary justice here that morning and people could not predict a safe arrival from him at Cameron, for which place they left which him immediately. "The Stake and Torch" Anthony Smith was indicted and his trial came speedily on at Cameron. Its conclusion being reached yesterday. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree, and the prisoner was sentenced to be hanged. People who witnessed his trial said it was fairly conducted and the death penalty richly merited. Just before daylight this morning an armed body of horsemen, 40 or 50 strong, rode into Cameron and made their way to the jail. They forced an entrance, took the prisoner from his cell and conducted him some miles out from the town where they put him to death in a most horrible manner. The condemned and doomed negro was tied up by the hands, fuel collected and heaped upon and around him, and a fire kindled, which gradually blazed up and enveloped his body, burning it to a crisp. Not satisfied with the torture inflicted and the consequent death, the mob then riddled the charred remains with bullets. Judge Broaddus informs your reporter that most, if not all, the mob were from Bell county. He says it was an paralleled case of lawlessness, inasmuch as the courts had shown such vigilance. Some declare it an outrage on humanity; but there is a division of opinion.