Negro Lynched in Georgia.
Athens, Ga., eSpt. [sic] 10.—Obe Cox, negro, alleged murderer of the wife of an Oglethorpe county farmer, was captured by a posse today, taken to the scene of the crime, his body riddled with bullets and burned at the stake. Several thousand persons witnessed the scene.
The next stop on our journey is an article printed by The Index-Journal (Greenwood, S. C.) on September 11, 1919:
Heard Whizzing of Mob's Bullet.
A Greenwood citizen who returned from Atlanta on the midday train last Tuesday reports an exciting experience about 15 miles this side of Athen [sic] when a bullet whizzed through the car and barely missed a passenger. The supposition is that the shot was fired by someone in the mob which was looking for Obe Cox, the negro who was lynched in Oglethorpe county yesterday. This Greenwood citizen added that the roads along the railroad tracks were lined with automobiles filled with men who made a two-day search for the negro.
Our final stop on this journey is an article printed on September 23, 1919 in The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N. C.):
NEGRO CITIZENS ENDORSE LYNCHING OF ONE OBE COX
Athens, Ga., Sept 22.—A number of negroes residing near Lexington, Ga., have met and adopted resolutions approving of the action of whitees [sic] who recently lynched Obe Cox, a negro, accused of assaulting and murdering the wife of a white farmer, it became known here tonight.
The resolutions condemned in strong terms the crime that aroused 1,000 men and set them to a 24 hours' search of swamps and woods which was concluded with the shooting of the negro an dthe [sic] burning of his body. At the time the crime was committed Cox was under indictment for an attack on a negro woman. He is said to have confessed before death to the crime.
Negroes who took the stand that the lynching was justified were said to have consisted of some of the most orderly and prosperous in Oglethorpe county where the white woman was killed. "Nick" Walter, a negro who leases and operates a farm of several ploughs, was said by officials at Lexington to have taken a leading part in adoption of the resolutions. Just how many negroes took part in the move could not be learned here tonight.
Thank you for coming along on this journey, and as always, I hope I have given you something to think and reflect over.
I am confused by your vitriol. The articles in no way state that he did not rape anyone. I made no comment that he did not rape anyone. This blog is about lynchings and does not in any way make the claim that the people who were lynched were innocent. I write what are in the articles. I try to give as many different views as possible and leave it to the reader to come to conclusions. In case you missed it, one article states that the rape was condemned. "The resolutions condemned in strong terms the crime that aroused 1,000 men and set them to a 24 hours' search of swamps and woods which was concluded with the shooting of the negro an dthe [sic] burning of his body." I am sorry for the pain your family has experienced but that does not make the lynching any less true.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly. Obe Cox from the time he was a young man did little or no work.He had been doing yard work for this woman, I think in Crawford, planned a petty robbery, but instead raped her and killed her viciously with a sharpened garden hoe. Even blacks said he was not one to be around if he was drinking. He had assaulted folks from Lexington to Crawford and ppl still tried helping him with work and odd jobs. I was told these bits of info by ppl black and white just 40 yrs after it happened.Oglethorpe County was always considered a place with very benevolent ppl. There were poor blacks and poor whites, but if you were willing to work ppl were there to help you with everything you needed. There was always mutual respect between black and white, but Obe Cox was just trouble.
ReplyDelete