November 10, 1918: William Bird

To put today's lynching into some historical context, Mr. Bird was lynched 5-8 hours before Germany signed the Armistice ending World War I. We were that close to the end of a major war and people were still lynching black men for little things like disturbing the peace. Please keep this in mind if you wonder why there is so much anger over Confederate monuments or events like the one in Charlottesville. The papers didn't provide much information about the lynching we're covering today. However, this lynching is connected with a lynching we covered on November 12, 2014. George Whitesede was lynched for the murder of a policeman. Our first article covers both lynchings and is from The Concord Times (Concord, North Carolina) dated November 12, 1918:

LYNCHING IN ALABAMA
________

Self Confessed Slayer of Policeman Taken from Jail and Lynched.

Sheffield, Ala., Nov. 12.—Geo Whiteside, a negro self confessed slayer of John Graham, a Policeman of Sheffield was taken from the Colbert County jail by a mob early today and lynched.

Shortly afterward the mob left for Russellville, 20 miles south of here, some of their leaders declaring they would lynch Henry Willingham, and Charles Hamilton, two other negroes arrested in connection with the killing. They were taken to Russellville for safekeeping after William Bird, another negro implicated in the affair, had been lynched Sunday night.

It is unknown whether Mr. Bird actually did have something to do with the killing of policeman Graham. No other paper hints that he was involved. They simply mention that he was lynched for "creating a disturbance." Our next and final article is from The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) dated November 11, 1918:

NEGRO TAKEN FROM JAIL BY ALABAMA MOB AND HANGED
________

Sheffield, Ala., Nov. 10 (by A. P.)—William Bird, a negro, was taken from the jail here to-night by a mob of about 100 men and hanged. Bird was captured and placed in jail this afternoon after a running fight with officers following a disturbance he was said to have created in the lower section of Sheffield. The negro was surrendered to the mob without violence.

Thank you for joining us, and as always, we hope we leave you with something to ponder.