The Fiend Wore a Heavy Mask

A Kaufman County Child Ravished by an Unknown Man
Gloves Worn to Conceal His Complexion

San Antonio Express
23 June 1897, Page 2

Dallas, Tex., June 22 – (Special) Littie Ora McReynolds, the 14-year-old daughter of a highly respectable farmer living seven miles south of Forney, Kaufman County, was outraged near her home this afternoon. The brute wore a mask over his face and had his hands gloved. The little girl is unable to say whether he was white or black. The girl, badly injured and half unconscious, was found a short while after the fiend had accomplished his purpose.

The news spread like a prairie fire and in half an hour the country was aroused. Parties of armed men scoured the country in every direction and every suspicious looking person was arrested. Parties who came in on to-night’s westbound Texas & Pacific train say a white man jumped off the train at Forney who had gotten on at the first station below. He started to run from the Forney depot but was quickly captured and brought back. He was held to await results.

At 7 o’clock to-night a large body of restute (?) and determined men, praying for an opportunity to wreak vengeance on the man who had outraged the daughter of their neighbor, left the home of Farmer McReynolds on the trail of the ravisher with bloodhounds. The dogs took the scent and, it is reported here, a lynching is expected before morning.

A private telephone message from Forney at 10 o’clock to-night says the posse had not been heard from at that hour. The rapist is believed to have gone in the direction of Kaufman and men from all parts of the country are joining in the chase. People are half crazy with anger. The anti-lynch law has been forgotten.
Forney, Tex., June 22 – (Special) This little town went into a blaze of excitement this evening when the report came in town that the 14-year-old daughter of T.J. McReynold, living eight miles from here, had been raped. The man was masked. All the county officers and many of the citizens are in the search, but the perpetrator has not yet been overtaken.