The victims of the Staffleback family are still being lifted into the shaft by the hoist. At all times, a sizable throng gathers at the pit’s opening, and the attention paid to each bucket of dirt that rises to the top is palpable. Around 9 a.m. this morning, the arrival of a wooden club with hair on it confirmed my suspicions.
Barbers and others inspected it closely and determined it to be human. The employees had begun to lose hope, but this discovery gave them a renewed sense of purpose. According to rumours on the streets, vigilantes have been organised to go to Columbus in the event that the Stafflebacks’ corpses are discovered.
Some believe that the individual who will lead the mob will be the same as the one who led the mob during the lynching of Joe Thornton in Joplin ten or more years ago. Committee members are claimed to be mostly workers, although several merchants have shown support for the plan and indicated that they would be happy to help out. There is a palpable sense of excitement about Galena. Recently, there have been many killings in the area, and many shady people have moved in from elsewhere.
An attempt is going to be made to modify the moral climate by making the town too hot to keep individuals who are not welcome. It won’t only be the Stafflebacks who will be hung if the mob manages to get into the prison in Columbus; nine other men recently convicted of first-degree murder are already there. In Cherokee County, the consensus is that the state of Kansas needs a governor who is willing to issue execution warrants. The likelihood of a lynching bee is a matter of debate.
It’s clear that the public is in favour of it, but a strong focus and leadership are needed to see it through. The bottom of the shaft, now being excavated, is anticipated to be reached shortly. There should be two female bodies in this one, right? Searches will be made for the corpse of the peddler suspected of being thrown down this shaft and another approximately 100 feet deep, should nothing be found here. On Tuesday, some bloodied clothes were removed from this shaft. Aside from the idea that corpses are there, the only other explanation for discovering these things is that these tunnels have been used as garbage dumps and storage areas for the items used in connection with the Galbraith murder and the toughest residential sector in the state.
