Yes, I imagine that that added some pride to the searchers. They not only found the little girl, but fast enough to stop Westerfield from escaping death.
Is Westerfield dead yet? Many a mob has hung a terribly bad man, yet once a mob tastes the blood they don't just stop at bad men -- they eventually go for the weak, the orphaned, the defenseless.
Once the KKK mob put on robes to stop the vile carpetbaggers, they didn't stop there.