Daily Advocate [Baton Rouge, LA], September 6, 1860
An Abolitionist Hung at Talladega, Ala.—The Talladega Reporter gives the particulars of the arrest and confinement in jail of two white men and some eight or ten negroes, charged with having been engaged in the insurrectionary plot lately discovered in that county, and says that the jail was entered on the night of the 28th ult., and one of the white men, known as Lem Payne, but whose real name is Mahon, was taken out and hung to a shade tree standing near the tan yard, in full view of the jail. The Coroner held an inquest, and the verdict of the jury was that the deceased came to his death by hanging at the hands of some party or parties unknown. It appears that about 3 o’clock in the morning a company waked the jailer up, representing that they had a negro to commit. The jailer struck a light, and got the keys, the parties having a negro (or some one representing a negro) tied. As soon as the keys were produced, the light was blown out, the jailer compelled to submit, and the prisoner demanded. He was taken out by the parties. The jailer immediately gave the alarm, but it was too late to effect anything; they had hurried off, and no one could tell in what direction they had gone.