Elmore County, Alabama Genealogy and History Newspaper Crime Stories TERRIBLE ALABAMA TRAGEDY Five Men Who Had Murdered Three People For Purpose of Robbery Taken from Jail and Lynched. Montgomery, Ala., June 18 – The men who murdered and robbed Mr. Carden and his wife and an old man named Carlee, near Wetumpka, were lynched at nine o’clock today. Last night Gov. Johnson received a message from the sheriff that a mob was assembling and he feared his prisoners would be taken from him and asked for troops. The governor soon got together about 90 men of the local militia and sent them to Wetumpka on a special train. Before they reached there, however, the mob had secured the prisoners – five in number and took them to the scene of the murder. Four of the negroes confessed to having participated in the crime and one of them told where he had the money. He was compelled to find it and in a few minutes, near the scene of the crime, all five were swung up and their bodies riddled with bullets. (Walnut Valley Daily Times, June 18, 1898 - Submitted by Peggy Thompson) ©2008 Genealogy Trails