However, the peace ended on Saturday evening. A mob gathered once again
at the Old Court House Building and then began to move in the direction
of the State Arsenal Building. A small group attempted to enter the State
Arsenal where displaced blacks were being housed. The group was stopped
by a militia guard, but the mob merely changed direction and proceeded to
march across the capitol grounds and headed for the home of William
Donnegan. He was an elderly long time resident of Springfield. Donnegan
was eighty-four years old and a cobbler by trade; a respected resident of
the community who owned his own home outside the Badlands and also owned
some adjacent properties which were occupied by members of his family. He
was known to be a friend and the cobbler of Abraham Lincoln. Donnegan made
a small fortune bringing southern blacks to Springfield to find jobs. He
had never been accused of a crime. He had however, broken the unwritten
mores of being married to a white woman for the last thirty-two years. The
mob approached Donnegan's home. When he came out to find what they were
up to, they grabbed him, cut his throat, dragged his body across the street,
and lynched him in the Edwards School yard. He was still alive when the
national guard cut him down, but he died early the next morning. This lynching
was the last mob action of the riot.
