BOOE, Alvah - ASSAULTS 7-YEAR-OLD
Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Friday, 14 June 1895
Indianapolis Journal: Alvin Booe, Covington man, accused of assaulting a seven year old girl, is locked in the Marion County Jail for safe keeping. Sheriff Womack and the jail attaches decline to say whether or not he is. The indications last night were that he is here. Booe, it is said, was brought here from Crawfordsville to escape a mob. The latter has been searching for him and it is said to be composed of one thousand men. Last night Captain Quigley received word that the mob was coming here intending to make an attempt to get Booe out and hang him. The patrolmen were instructed to call up frequently and a lookout was kept for the mob. At an early hour this morning no mob had appeared. Captain Quigley regarded the report as a fake, but he thought it best to be on guard. Information from Covington says the mob is well organized and ready to march as soon as it is learned definitely where Booe is.
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal Friday, 21 June 1895
It is reported from Covington that Alvah Booe, the monster who so narrowly escaped mob law, will plead guilty to the charge against him. He will be taken to Covington from Indianapolis some fine morning, enter his plea, be sentenced and leave on the noon train for the penitentiary. In this way only could he escape the vengeance of the mob. Of course the mob could not act in day time against him. In case Booe does not plead guilty it is more than likely that his case will be send here for trial. In that event, which is not at all likely, Sheriff Davis will have sport guarding against the mob.-
Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Friday, 7 June 1895
The Indianapolis Journal Monday reported that Alvah Booe, the Fountain County brute, had been brought to the Crawfordsville jail to save him from a mob. Sheriff Moore, of Fountain County, brought Booe here Saturday night but Sheriff Davis refused to harbor him. Booe was frightened nearly to death. Word was received Monday afternoon that Booe had been taken to the Lafayette jail for safe keeping.
Source: People’s Pilot Rensselaer, Jasper Co IN 13 June 1895
Indianapolis, Ind June 12 – It was accidentally discovered here yesterday that Alvan Booe, who assaulted Miss May Newman near Covington last week is in jail in this city, having been brought here to prevent the Fountain County mob from hanging him. He was spirited away from Covington by the sheriff and taken to Crawfordsville but it was there learned that 1200 Fountain County farmers were after him and had sworn to hang him and he was brought to this city. Though he has been in jail here for nearly a week, the fact was kept secret as it was feared that the job would follow him here.
Source: Indianapolis news 11 June 1895 p 7
In the Marion County jail is a man who fears that every step brings someone who seeks his life. He was secretly brought to this city to save his neck from a mob. The man is Alvan Booe of Covington, Ind accused of assaulting Ida May Newman an 8-year-old girl living at Harveysburg. On the trial the farmers decided to lynch him and about a 1000 of them gathered in the streets of Covington where he had been taken. The sheriff took his prisoner away and when the lynchers went through the jail they were disappointed. The prisoner was taken to Crawfordsville for safe-keeping but the sheriff there would not receive him. Word reached Covington that Booe was in the Crawfordsville jail and a mob of 1800 men was organized for the purpose of marching to Crawfordsville. It was given out that Booe was taken to Lafayette and then it was said he was in a Frankfort jail. Neither report was correct. He was brought to this city in the night in charge of two officers, who impressed on Sheriff Womack the importance of keeping Booe’s whereabouts a secret. A woman who was passing through the jail recognized Booe and a railroad man also was told that he was in there. Sheriff Womack and all his deputies deny any knowledge of Booe and refuse to say whether he is in the jail or not. But he is there.
Source: The Tipton Advocate Fri 7 June 1895 p 2
Covington, , Ind June 3 – Several attempts to lynch Alvah Booe who made a brutal assault on little 8-year-old Ida May Newman last Tuesday have been frustrated the last two nights by Sheriff Ambrose Moore. Booe is about 30 years old and at his preliminary trial in Veedersburg last week it was proven beyond a doubt that he had committed the crime charged at Harveysburg. The farmers down there showed a disposition to string up Booe and he was place in jail here early Friday morning. There were indications that an attempt would be made to storm the jail and lynch the prisoner. When night came on strangers began to arrive. By midnight there were perhaps 1000.. Sheriff Moore saw something had to be done and he employed a ruse in order to get the people to disperse. It was past 3 o’clock in the morning when the mob at last dispersed. A committee from the crowd was allowed to go through the jail in order to satisfy themselves that Booe was not there.