Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. The Story Of Art Kinsauls "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore Friday, October 18, 1991 All of my life I had heard the story as well as legends of the hanging of Art Kinsauls in Sampson County on September 28, 1900. Some of the legends were not entirely true. One of the newspspers in an article much later stated that he was the last man to be hanged in Sampson County. According to the Sampson County records he was not. Ashton Moore, a young black man, was executed by hanging in April 1905 for raping a 12-year-old black girl by the name of Kanella Brewington, but this hanging was observd privately by only 25 persons who were issued formal passes. The Atlanta Journal reported the execution on September 4, 1905. A few years ago a granddaughter of Art (actually named Archie) Kinsauls, Mrs. Dorothy Kinsauls West, of Cedar Creek near Fayetteville, spoke to our Sampson County Historical Society on "The Life of Art Kinsauls." This story could well some day be the theme of a movie. Jerome Tew of Goldsboro did an article on Kinsauls in 1986 in the Huckleberry Historian (the newsletter of our historical society). In 1980 Bill Gaither wrote an informative article on Kinsauls on January 20th. This was for the Fayetteville Observer. Art Kinsauls was born in 1865 and was the son of Ensley and Martha Tate Kinsauls of the Bearskin Swamp area in Sampson county (near Salemburg) and he died by public hanging on September 28, 1900. He was married in 1896 to a local girl, Posunnie Gibsy Bass, the daughter of Melvin and Amy Honencutt Bass. Even though Art weighed only 110 pounds and was tough as iron, he could fight like a wildcat. Many men were afraid of him because he was great for starting arguments. There was some fued between Art and a neighbor, John C. Herring (1874-1898). There had been several fights between them, the details of which I will not give here, but one night Art was in Art Vann's Store at Beaman's Crossroad and an argument began. Kinsauls reached into the meat box and got a sharp butcher knife and stabbed young Herring to such an extent that he died during the night. Herring is buried in the Hickory Grove Baptist Church Cemetery. Kinsauls did not leave the area and was arrested a few days later and placed in the county jail in Clinton. His wife had a baby boy, Archie Kinsauls Jr., born December 17, 1898. He asked the jailer to allow him to go home under escort, but was refused. A group of his friends came to the jail and by force of arms compelled his release. Kinsauls went home and avoided capture for nine months. He was armed with a Winchester rifle and a pistol. The sheriff accompanied by a posse of men apprehended him as he came out of a barn. He was brought down with twenty-eight buckshot and lingered between life and death for a long time. Finally, Kinsauls was able to stand trial in October 1899. At the trial Kinsauls was defended by John D. Kerr, John D. Fowler and Fleetrose Cooper, all of Clinton, and the prosecutors were Major George E. Butler and Henry E. Faison, also of Clinton. The jury found him guilty of murder. Judge Bryan sentenced him to be hanged on November 29, 1899. Kinsauls complained that he could not sleep and the attending doctor gave him sleeping pills. He took an overdose and on the day of the scheduled hanging the jailer found him unconscious. He recovered and another execution date was set. On that day he attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a tin lid and again hanging was delayed. He did recover and another date was set for September 28, 1900. Governor Daniel Russell received many requests from influential men from Sampson County for reprieve. The governor refused. On the day of the hanging literally hundreds of people from all over the county came. They came in wagons, buggies and some walking. The gallows were erected near the present jail. When the time of the execution came, he was forced to step off a ladder but the height was not sufficient and because of his light weight (ll0 lbs) his neck was not broken. The crowd was about to riot. The attending physician determined that he was still alive. The executioners forced him up the ladder again and this time the fall was effective. Because of his previous injuries the scene became quite bloody. Many people fainted and "there was an uproar over the hanging." This was the last public hanging in Sampson County. About two years ago Sheriff Cranford Fann took me to Kinsauls' grave. ------- I have just visited the RootsWeb site for Sampson County, NC. There I found information you had submitted regarding the 1900 hanging of Archie Kinsauls. Archie's sister, Peggy A. "Maggie" Kinsauls married James Sampson Pope around 1875. They were living in the Mingo Township of Samspon Co., NC in 1880. [Peggy is listed as Margaret on the 1880 NC Census - Sampson - Mingo Twp - Page 174]. James and Maggie Kinsauls Pope were my gg-grandparents. One of their daughters, Mallie Pope, died young. She had married Wade Hampton Williams (of Greenville, SC) and had three children. Fred Pope Williams, the eldest child, was my grandfather. Fred and his siblings grew up in Durham, NC. Mallie had a brother, William Robert "Willie" Pope. It was his SSA application which gave me their parents' names. "Uncle Willie" Pope was born in 1887 in Sampson Co. NC, and had a remarkable memory. Before he passed at the age of 90 in Henrico (Richmond) VA, he told me a few stories of his personal life. He was photographed in his later years with an esteemed person, with the headline "Pope Meets Pope". I want to thank you for having the info regarding Archie Kinsauls posted at RootsWeb. I have just started researching my father's family line, and this file contains a lot of locality and family info. If you happen to personally know a Kinsauls' descendant, please pass my e-mail along. I would be most happy to meet with them. Tammy Williams Fisher Newport News, VA twfisher@aol.com ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Guy Potts ==============================================================