Ax Murderer Hanged by Mob

Sparta, Ky., May 30 - A man named John Branham, who murdered his wife yesterday by splitting her head open with an ax, was hung last night by a party of about one hundred men, who collected in front of the jail about 1 o'clock and demanded the keys from the jailer, which were reluctantly given up.  They then took Branham from the jail, carried him half a mile from the town and hung him to a tree.  His wife was buried today.  No cause for killing his wife is known.

from the New York Times, May 31, 1872