Methodist Minister Prevents Lynching

Roseville, Ohio, 1904

PREACHER STOPS LYNCHING.

Feeling Runs High in Roseville, Ohio, Over Incendiary Fires.

Three alleged incendiary fires occurred in the village of Roseville, Ohio, during twelve hours. The money loss is small, but the excitement of the residents reached a crisis when a crowd of men gathered in the center of the town intent upon doing violence to two men, Kid Wilson, colored, and Charles Carnes, white, who had been arrested on suspicion. Rev. Luther J. Smith, the Methodist minister of the town, mounted a box and dissuaded the crowd from doing any unlawful act. The authorities believe they know who the firebug is, but deem it unsafe to take him into custody now, fearing violence of an extreme character.

—The Iowa Recorder, Greene, Iowa, November 30, 1904, page 2.