Thursday, July 9, 2015

May 8, 1906: Sam Sims

Today we learn about a Mississippi lynching through the pages of the Daily Press (Newport News, Virginia) dated May 9, 1906:

MOB LYNCHED A NEGRO WHO KILLED A HORSE.

Mississippians Hang the Man Because He Shot the Animal While Resisting Arrest.

(By Associated Press.)

JACKSON, MISS., May 8.—Sam Sims, a negro was lynched by a mob six miles from Jackson last night. Resisting arrest he killed a horse under Constable Hendricks and friends of Hendricks captured the negro and lynched him, first tying the constable to a tree to prevent his interference.


The Eugene Guard (Eugene, Oregon) dated May 10, 1906:

Sam Sims, the negro lynched near Clinton, Mississippi, Tuesday for attempting to assassinate a constable, must have felt deeply obligated in that the affair, according to the dispatch, was conducted in a quiet and orderly manner. The gentlemanly conduct and appearance of his executioners must have allayed any suspicion on his part that after his demise they would shoot his body as full of holes as a sieve and finish by burning so the gaudy funeral so dear to the negro heart would be utterly incapable of realization. They might have given him a funeral to start with, then lynched him.

I would like to point out that Sam Sims was not burned. He was discovered hanging from a tree in the morning by a man walking along the road. I read many articles, but none mentioned why Sims was being arrested in the first place.  Thank you for joining me and as always, I hope I leave you with something to ponder.



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