I shall never forget how he looked--pale as a sheet, his feet tied with rope, his arms securely bound behind him. He was bareheaded and they had removed his coat and collar in order to adjust the noose which hung around his neck.
Quite plainly, if there was anything I could do to save my friend, it must be done quickly. The mob was loudly clamoring for his life. Already a young man was climbing up the tree in search of a convenient limb over which to throw the end of the rope.
I shuddered to think that, unless I could devise some plan of action, Tom Bigelow's lifeless body would soon be dangling before my eyes.
Summoning every ounce of the nervous energy I possessed I pressed my way through the crowd, screaming frantically:
"That man is my sweetheart! Don't lynch him--oh, please don't lynch him!"
My action took the crowd by surprise--they made a lane for me and pushed me along until finally I stood right at Tom's feet.
I climbed up on the box beside Tom; I threw my arms around his neck, although the feel of that ugly noose against my flesh made me shudder.
"This man is innocent--he is my sweetheart," I kept shouting. "You must let him go."
I hugged Tom Bigelow, I kissed him, I wept over him--I did everything I could imagine a woman doing when the man she loves is about to be hung before her eyes.
"If you hang him you'll have to hang me, too," I screamed between my heart-rending sobs.
The crowd was amazed. Lynchings were no uncommon occurrence in that region, but nothing like this had ever happened before.
The cooler heads in the crowd began to have their say. "Take that noose off his neck and lock them both up," some one shouted.
The Sheriff put handcuffs on us and led us away. My ruse had succeeded. Tom Bigelow's life was saved!
Tom and I were lodged in jail, indicted by the Grand Jury and held without bail for trial. Of course, I was innocent of any share in the robbery, but, as the authorities believed my story that I was Tom's sweetheart, they thought I must know more about it than I admitted.
It was while we were confined in the jail at Mount Sterling that I had an opportunity to see for myself how it feels to face a desperate lynching mob. That was one of the most horrid nightmares I ever experienced.