Tuesday, November 18, 2014

November 18, 1898: John Smartt

Today we read about a lynching by whitecaps in Tennessee through the pages of The Times (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) dated November 20, 1898:

LYNCHED BY WHITECAPS

A Tennessee Band Shot Down an Inoffensive Colored Man.

Nashville, November 19.—John Smartt, a well-disposed colored citizen, living at Chapeltown, one and a half miles from Smartt's Station, in Warren county, Tenn., was shot and killed by whitecaps last night. The whitecaps had served notice upon Mack Smartt, son of the old man.

At a late hour twenty-three men visited his house, Mack was ordered to come out, but refused, whereupon coal oil was poured on the side of the house, but not ignited. A torch was lighted and placed near the house, and old man Smartt, thinking the house was on fire, rushed out into the yard, where he was shot and died instantly. The whitecaps rode away immediately after the killing.


Thank you for joining me today and as always, I hope I leave you with something to ponder.

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