May, 1900: John Brodie, cont.

Today I am adding to a lynching that I previously covered and can be found here. Today's article comes to us through the pages of The Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware) dated June 12, 1900:

NEGRO PRISONER LYNCHED.

Two Men Who Had Charge of Him Are Held for Murder.

Laffan News Bureau Special.

MEMPHIS, Tenn., June 11.—The story of a recent lynching in Lee county, Ark., has just become known in this city. Several weeks ago, John Blunt, a white planter and merchant, and John Brodie, a negro, had a difficulty at Raggio, Ark. Brodie attempted to shoot Blunt, but was shot in the face by another negro after he and Blunt had exchanged several shots. Brodie was arrested, tried before a negro magistrate and bound over. He was placed in the hands of two negro constables. Blunt sent to Marianna for a deputy sheriff and W. H. Ford responded.

The negro was turned over to Ford. Ford left Brodie in charge of Blunt, a man named Ligon and another named Brewer, all white. During the night Ford was awakened and told that Brodie had escaped. Two weeks later Brodie's body was found in the St. Francis river, handcuffed, with a bullet in the brain. The white people of Marianna became aroused and a coroner's jury found that Brodie had been murdered while in the custody of Blunt and Ligon, and the two were held for murder. When the case came up for a hearing, the two men were released on bonds of $4,000 each.

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

A Negro Uprising Feared: July 16, 1879

Today our feature is an article that shows that pandering to fear is an old habit in the United States. Although I could find endless examples, I am sharing an article from The York Daily (York, Pennsylvania) dated July 16, 1879:

A NEGRO UPRISING FEARED.

Trouble Between the Whites and Blacks in West Virginia.

CHARLESTON, W. Va., July 15.—Another excitement occurred in this community Saturday and Sunday, growing out of rumors that a body of armed colored men had lynched, by hanging, a telegraph operator at Hinton, W. Va., a station on the C. & O. R. R., and distant about eighty miles from this city. Yesterday morning the true state of affairs was obtained and is as follows:—On Saturday last the telegraph operator at Hinton while walking along the principal street of that town was struck by one of three colored men. The white man in defending himself threw a stone, which, striking the head of one of the colored men, fractured his skull, and but little hopes are entertained of his recovery.

The colored men of Hinton and vicinity, smarting under the late lynching of the colored brute, Lee, who was hanged a few days since, immediately had a secret meeting, and resolved to hang the telegraph operator, Saturday night being the time decided upon. A colored man who had been in the secret council divulged the intention of the would-be lynchers, and the citizens of Hinton, fearing the colored men, the population being largely made up of that class of persons, telegraphed to the Coalburg miners (the party who lynched Lee) and by dusk Saturday upwards of one thousand  suddenly made their appearance at Hinton.

A few minutes after their arrival a body of men, most of them armed, were detected in secret council, having under discussion plans for hanging the telegraph operator.—The miners surrounded the house while the meeting was being held and, making prisoners of the inmates, marched them into the street and cowhided the entire party.—After this the negroes were liberated with the understanding that if any lynching is to be done it must be for a crime serious than that of assault.

It is generally believed that the colored men of this city hold secret meetings each week and that they are organizing for rough work. Our citizens are not alarmed in the least by their movements, as an outbreak here would result disastrously to any body of colored men that might be foolish enough to open hostilities with the whites. The grounds upon which our citizens base their anticipations for an out-break here are found in following:

About two weeks ago an extensive system of blackmailing was practicing upon several white men of this place by three colored men, whose plan of operations was to send noted to the white men, the notes purporting to have been written by respectable married white woman, and asking interviews with the white men for base purposes. A brother who had been thus shamefully outraged by the negroes, resolved to avenge the insult offered his sister, and in a row with one of the darkies had his skull broken. The negro was arrested, but afterwards released for court.

The companions of the negro now say that no punishment by the law shall be inflicted on him, and that any attempt to punish him will be the signal for an out-break. We, however, do not anticipate any trouble when the trial of the negro takes place; but should a riot occur, the colored people will receive a rough handling.

The first thing I would like to point out is that many lynchings occur because a black man defended himself against a white man's attack. Many of those do not end with the white man receiving a fatal blow, but the black man is still, apparently, deserving death. In this case the article wants the reader to realize the white man was only defending himself when he struck the black man, possibly delivering a fatal blow. Normally the paper does not use the words "defending himself" when the races are reversed. 

The secret meeting is another thing. Secret meetings are scary; people could be discussing lynchings or surprise parties, no one knows. People organizing unions hold secret meetings, people who belong to secret groups, such as the Masons, hold secret meetings, people who plan to overthrow governments hold secret meetings, people who are organizing neighbors to help a needy neighbor hold secret meetings, people who plan surprise birthday parties hold secret meetings. There are many reasons to have a meeting not held for the general public. One man's word that they are organizing a lynching does not make it so, especially when they hold these secret meetings weekly. If they were going to lynch the man why hold at least two secret meetings, especially if the date was set upon during the first meeting? Just a little something to think about. 

Any violence that actually occurred after the initial scuffle between three black men and the telegraph operator was initiated by the miners. They physically assaulted the men in the meeting, who were supposedly armed, and beat them. I am confused on this point. If the men in the building were mostly armed and were surrounded by the miners, why did they let the miners march them out and "Cowhide" them?

I know that these were very scary black men. They held secret meetings and three of them may have attempted to blackmail men by pretending they were "respectable, married white women."  One even dared to defend himself against a white man (of course the article doesn't use defend, only that he hurt the avenging white man in a row). 

So in an article that continually gives reasons to be wary of the black people amongst them, it end with letting the readers know they were not afraid because they were prepared to give the "colored people" a "rough handling."

I could have found a better article to use to point out the fear mongering, but honestly this one was in my list of articles to feature. I am tired. I have been remiss for the last week (due to migraines) in posting. I am exhausted from seeing people continue to die, even this weekend, because of fear mongering. I read about lynchings and death and what the newspapers were not saying. I read about the manipulation of the press to make people justify heinous acts against other humans, but I can tell myself that this is the past. There is nothing I can do now to change things. All I can do is present the past to people and hope that helps people understand why there are wounds. But Orlando is not the past. While it was only one man, it was no different than the torching of black communities or when men opened fire on black men in a court room. 

You are different to the person who is different to you. There is nothing to be afraid of. The only way to end this type of assassination of people is to not let the fear mongering affect you. Please take apart the words you are hearing and reading. Please pay attention to the manipulation being used. Don't let other people convince you to hate someone just because you don't understand them.    

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

   

The Tennessean: March 26, 1879

Today we have a small excerpt from The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee) dated March 26, 1879:

WHEN will people learn that female children must not be left unprotected? A negro or a tramp lynched impresses every few weeks the terrible lesson negligence has taught. The heart is palsied with the thought of the dreadful crime, the little victim torn and defiled by the brute, and he suffers, perhaps, the penalty; but it is no remedy for a little life blasted by the very recollection of the horror. The truth is continually impressed that there is in this land of law and order no safety  from demoniac lust but in never leaving little girls unprotected. 

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

Lynching Foes In Senate Tell Of New Tactics: March 15, 1940

Today we feature an article found in Denny's Column in the Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) dated March 15, 1940:

Denny's Column—

LYNCHING FOES IN SENATE TELL OF NEW TACTICS

Describe 'Hush' Methods As Parties Eye Negro Voting Power

By LUDWELL DENNY

WASHINGTON, March 15—Twenty Southern Senators have made a secret agent to filibuster to death the anti-lynching bill. To meet these tactics, which have killed other such bills, opponents of joint murder will show the Senate how lynching has been streamlined to escape the headlines and public revulsion.

The night-riding floggers case now being aired in Atlanta is a case in point. Instead of a noisy mob operating, a few efficient abductors took over the job of kidnaping the victims and beating them.

One victim of this particular gang, Isaac Gaston, was found dead. A deputy sheriff and a policeman, active Ku Klux Klansmen, were identified with similar floggings, even to matching the scars from the leather strap used on the victims, but the coroner's jury failed to name the slayers.

The new technique is described in detail in a report issued today under sponsorship of Senators Wagner (D., N. Y.) and Capper (R., Kan.) and Representatives Gavagan (D., N. Y.) and Fish (R., N. Y.) advocates of the anti-lynching bill.

'Lynching Goes Underground'

They do not give the name of their author, a white native Southerner, because he is continuing his inquiry.

The title if "Lynching Goes Underground." After describing what occurred in several recent unheralded cases, the report states that many lynching are occurring of which the public never hears:

"Your investigator has proved numerous lynchings. His acquaintance with lynchers and the lynched extends over a lifetime. It is his judgment that countless Negroes are lynched yearly, but their disappearance is surrounded in mystery, for they are dispatched quietly and without general knowledge . . .

"A careful study covering four or five states of the deep South for a period of months would reveal a startling number of lynchings otherwise unaccounted for."

Seeks Federal Probe

He was told by "competent observers" that in the vicinity of Cleveland, Miss., "at least four Negroes have been lynched in the past four or five months." He appeals to the Department of Justice to investigate these and similar reports.

More specific are the report's charges in the cases of Joe Rodgers of Madison County, Miss., and Claude Banks of Canton, Miss. Of the former case, it states as "self-evident from the evidence just cited" that:

"Joe Rodgers . . . came to his death at the hands of a mob composed of employes of the Dinkman Mills. That the above is known to be the facts by the officials of Madison County. That no real effort has been made or will be made to bring the guilty parties to justice."

Of the other case, the report says:  

"The evidence seems to indicate that the group of men who fired upon Banks and Jones was a legally deputized posse . . . It is positively known that both deputies and members of the local police force were among those who shot Claude Banks."

Describe New Technique

The new technique of lynching is described as follows:

"Agitation for Federal and state anti-lynching laws gives pause to the lynching crowd. It must be done quietly so as not to attract attention, draw publicity. Thus those who must rule by terror and intimidation turn to new methods. The old mob is disappearing but the work of the mob goes on.

"A Negro is accused of some crime, real or alleged. A few white men gather, formulate their plans, seize their victim. In some lonely swamp a small body of men do the job formerly done by a vast, howling, bloodthirsty mob composed of men, women and children. The word is then passed that the matter has been handled to the satisfaction of those in charge."

The pending bill, which has passed the House, is now before the Senate Judiciary Committee, with a favorable report of 5 to 1. The opponent was Senator Connally (D., Tex.) who will lead the floor obstruction. Two years ago the filibuster held out a  month and was successful.

But in this election year, with Negroes holding the balance of power in several doubtful states, the Republicans and Northern Democrats may fight more effectively. Senator Vandenberg of Michigan, Republican Presidential aspirant, is one of many committed to breaking the filibuster.

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

Would Legalize Lynching: October 29, 1901

Today's article comes to us through the pages of The Salt Lake Herald (Salt Lake City, Utah) dated October 29, 1901:

WOULD LEGALIZE LYNCHING

PROBABLY THE MOST unique and startling remedy that has been suggested for the lynching evil in the south is one which appeared in the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Its author is one Edwin Lehman Johnson, a Memphis merchant, who would do well to devote all his time to buying and selling goods instead of perplexing his brain with questions of social reform.

Mr. Johnson's plan of campaign against the evils of lynching is to make lynching legal. He would "enact a lynch law which will permit to be done legally, in a modified form, with certain safeguards and without barbaric accompaniment and degrading publicity," just what is now performed by mobs. Then, and then alone, he says, will the state be able to escape the disgrace of the unlawful and brutalizing conduct of mobs.

He fears, however, that the state constitution might make such a law invalid, but he adds that this could be easily remedied by changing the constitution. If the federal constitution still stands in the way, he would have that fixed up also.

Mr. Johnson's proposition is important only as showing the vagaries of the human mind when it is driven into new channels of thought. Probably in the matter of buying and selling goods Mr. Johnson would display as hard sense as anyone, but he certainly isn't equipped with a mental apparatus that warrants him in taking up the study of social reform.

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

4 Lynchings In U. S. In First Half Of 1940: July 4, 1940

Today an article found in The Gazette and Daily's (York, Pennsylvania) July 4, 1940 edition is featured:

4 Lynchings In U. S. In First Half Of 1940

Association For Advancement Of Colored People Takes Issue With Tuskegee Report Which Says There Was None.

Comment By Congressman

(By The Associated Press)

New York, July 3.—The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People today vigorously took issue with a Tuskegee Institute report that there had been no lynchings in the United States during the first six months of 1940.

In Washington yesterday (Wednesday) Rep. Hobbs (D-Ala) informed the House today that there had not been a single lynching in the United States during the first six months of this year. "This proves again," Hobbs, "that crime is being utterly eradicated by the only force that can eradicate it—namely, enlightened local public sentiment."

In a telegram to Dr. F. D. Patterson, president of the Tuskegee, Ala., negro school, Walter White, association secretary said:

"On March 2 Sarah Rawls and Benton Ford were flogged to death by a mob at Atlanta, Ga. Five days later Ike Gaston was beaten to death by a mob in the same city. (all three were white persons).

"On June 22 Elbert Williams, negro, was lynched at Brownsville, Tenn., for attempting to exercise his constitutional right to register in order to vote in 1940 presidential election."

Declaring that "such inaccurate statements by Tuskegee Institute do irreparable harm by causing public vigilance against mob murder to relax and by giving enemies of anti-lynching bills ammunition for sabotage of such legislation," the telegram continued:

"Tuskegee should either establish machinery to get facts completely and accurately or stop issuing lynching figures."

The institute's department of records and research had reported eight lynchings in 1937, six in 1938, three in 1939 and none so far in 1940.

Information on the deaths of Sarah Rawls and Benton Ford  and the death of Ike Gaston can be found in the following article in the Kingsport Times (Kingsport, Tennessee) dated March 15, 1940:

FLOGGING PROBE MAY INVOLVE KLAN

Atlanta Police Trace Report Klansmen In Vicinity When Couple Murdered

ATLANTA, March 15. (AP)—police Capt. Ben W. Seabrook said today he was pursuing information that four admitted Ku Klux Klan members mentioned in investigation of suburban whippings were in Henry county on the night Sarah Rawls and Benton Ford were found dead near McDonough, Henry county seat, two weeks ago.

"I want to talk with friends and relatives of the murdered couple," he said, "and have offered them police protection if necessary."

Seabrook said he especially wished to talk to Johnnie miller, girl friend of Miss Rawls, about a letter she said Sarah received from a suitor indicating jealousy.

Strong Evidence

The Atlanta Journal quoted Seabrook as saying he already had "strong evidence indicating that a whipping crew of Klan members was drawn into the case by the jealousy of a close relative of one of the Klansmen."

Miss Rawls and Ford were killed by blows from a blunt instrument. Their bodies were found on a lonely road near the pick-up truck in which they had left a roadside dance hall several hours previously.

Four Indicted

A Fulton county (Atlanta) grand jury earlier this week indicted four men on charges of participating in whippings in this section. the investigation started after the fatal flogging of Ike Gaston, East Point barber. The four under indictment are not charged with participating in the Gaston whipping, however.

Chairman A. J. Allen of the American Legion's Americanism committee for the fifth area called today for the "resignation," a public recall election or impeachment" of Fulton county Sheriff J. C. (Mott) Aldredge, charging the official had not in the past properly investigated and prosecuted floggings.

Allen said he was authorized to speak for the entire Georgia department at a meeting here last night of high state Legion officials.

A letter to the editor concerning these events can be found in The Evening Independent (Massillon, Ohio) dated May 15, 1940:

Letters To The Editor

To the Editor of The Independent:

I recall reading in your paper recently a statement to the effect there had not been a lynching in the U. S. for a year.

To more clearly show the need of a real anti-lynching bill and at the same time to present the record, I call to your attention the facts. Near Atlanta, Ga., three people (white) were beaten to death allegedly by the Ku Klux Klan in March of this year. One a woman, Sarah Rawls, March 2:  Benton Ford, March 2 and Ike Gaston, a barber, March 7.

Miss Rawls and Ford were taken from their parked auto in Lover's Lane and charged with immorality. Gaston was charged with drinking too much.

The fight for an anti-lynching bill continues with greater interest, especially since Senator Barkley is alleged to have publicly admitted the House is not interested in passage of the bill introduced by Senators Wagner, Van Nuys and Capper and sabotaged by its proponents, Wagner, Van Nuys and Capper.

CARROLL W. BURKE

Massillon, May 13.

Information on the lynching of Elbert Williams can be found here.

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

New Causes for Lynching: November 30, 1907

Today an article from The Appeal (St. Paul, Minnesota) dated November 30, 1907:

NEW CAUSES FOR LYNCHING.

Under the above heading the Chicago Tribune sums up as follow:

"Three colored men have been lynched at Tunica, Miss., upon the charge of burglary though the evidence as to two of them was weak. Another colored man has been lynched at Byron, Ga., for stealing a few cents from some boys and resisting arrest therefor. Another man was lynched at Van Vleet, Miss., because he made insulting remarks to a lady over the phone. The sixth colored man was lynched at Carrollton, miss., because the brother of a man charged with murder would not tell the mob where he was concealed. In the latter case Gov. Vardaman had issued a reward for the arrest and conviction of the alleged murderer, but stipulated that not a cent would be paid if he was lynched."

The Tribune adds the following very sensible conclusion:

"It is not impossible that lynching for the minor crimes may reproduce the result which once obtained and that more serious crimes may occur, growing out of retaliation for these unjustifiable mob murders for crimes which do not deserve the extreme penalty and do not receive it in the north."

It has been persistently charged upon the Afro-Americans of the South that they aid in concealing criminals of their race. If such is the case, the foregoing shows the reason why.

The first lynching mentioned in the article was the October 11, 1907 triple lynching of Will Jackson, Jim Shoots and George Robinson.

The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, Louisiana) dated October 12, 1907 is where this article is found about the lynching:

MOB BREAKS INTO JAIL; THEN TRIPLE LYNCHING.

Three Negroes Who Confessed to a Number of Burglaries Meet Death at the Hands of a Mob at Tunica, Miss.—Two Are Hanged to Arm of a Telegraph Pole, the Other Is Shot Down as He Attempts to Escape.

Tunica, Miss., Oct. 11.—Three negroes from Memphis, named Will Jackson, Jim Shoots and George Robinson, were taken from jail here at an early hour this morning and lynched, their offense being a number of burglaries they confessed to, some of them having been perpetrated in this community.

Jackson and Shoots were hanged to the arm of a telegraph pole in front of the depot, and Robinson was shot down as he attempted to escape. His body is somewhere in the woods near here. no One knows who composed the mob or how they entered the jail. From the testimony taken at the coroner's inquest it developed that neither the jailer nor the sheriff nor any of his deputies knew that the jail had been entered during the night, and the officer stated that someone in the mob must have known where the jail keys were hung, for they were used to gain entrance to the jail and were found this morning where they always are kept, and nothing in the jail had been molested.

JUST BROKE OUT.

The coroner asked one of the officers on the witness stand how the negroes could have been taken from jail without someone knowing it, and he facetiously replied:  "They were in for housebreaking, and I guess they just broke out." The lynching occurred after midnight and before dawn, for members of the Manic lodge returning home after 12 o'clock state they saw no signs of a disturbance or any other unusual thing on their way home. The first that was known of the affair was early this morning, when the depot agent went down to open up his office. There in front of the station dangled the bodies of the two that were hanged. these negroes were arrested Tuesday night at Robinsonville, a small town several miles below here. Jackson was captured by Freight Conductor Fodd of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley near Lake Cormorant.

G. B. Stuart, a planter, shot Robinson on his plantation near Robinsonville and bagged him. Merriwether of Lake Cormorant arrested Shoots in that town. When brought to jail here yesterday they were sweated by the sheriff, and his deputies, and Robinson confessed and told the story of their numerous crimes. He said that they were members of an organized band of Memphis negroes, eight in number, and had been professional burglars for ten years.

A well-known Memphis divekeeper, a white man, was averred to be the head of the organization, and he disposed of the goods they stole in Memphis and elsewhere. In fact, Robinson said this divekeeper, who has figured extensively in the papers in Memphis within recent months, was the brains of their organization.

After operating for several years in Memphis most successfully he said, owing to some sort of protection, from whom the sheriff refused to divulge, it was decided that the pickings would be richer in the Delta towns of Mississippi, and for the past three years the negroes have been operating down here.

In Tunica there have been eighteen burglaries in this period, and in this general community within late months the depot and postoffice at Dundee, stores at Robinsonville. Hollywood and Senatobia and numerous other places have been entered and robbed. In a number of instances, Robinson said they had fights in which shots were exchanged with owners of the property they entered. Capt. J. W. Henderson and Mrs. Joe Savage in Tunica were shot at and came near being killed.

At Robinsonville Tuesday night two of the band stood watch over Mr. Sutter, a clerk in the stores of Woolfolk & Gilmore, intending to kill him if he stirred while the others completed the looting of the house and postoffice. This is only a brief summary of the confession made by Robinson. When it became known throughout the community, as it quickly did, it was believed that the officers at last had the band that had committed so many depredations here lately, and this belief, it is thought, inspired the lynching that followed so soon after.

The bodies were cut down this morning and the coroner held an inquest, the verdict being that the negroes came to their deaths at the hands of unknown parties. This is the largest affair of this kind that has occurred in Mississippi in a long time, and, strange to relate, it has not created very much excitement.

The second lynching was the October 22, 1907 lynching of Henry Sykes and can be found here.

The third lynching was the lynching of John Walker (or Wilkes) on October 27, 1907. An article about the lynching can be found in The New York Age (New York, N. Y.) November 7, 1907 edition:

LYNCHED AND CORPSE BURNED.

Fearful Work Is Done by Mob at Byron, Ga.

MACON, Ga., Oct. 27.—Because he robbed two small boys of seventy-five cents and attempted to rob a man of another small amount, John Walker, a Negro, was lynched at Byron at an early hour this morning.

It was rumored that Walker robbed the boys Saturday night and was holding up a man when Marshal Tom Johnson appeared. The marshal ordered Walker to surrender, but the latter drew a revolver and tried to kill the officer.

Early the next morning unknown parties stormed the prison in which Walker was confined, dragged him from his cell and, after carrying him a short distance, riddled him with bullets. The corpse was then thrown on a log fire and partly burned.

I did not find an article on the lynching of Bob Meyers brother. I did find numerous articles about the search for Bob Meyers for the murder of Sheriff McDougle. The lynching list found in The January 1, 1908 edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) reports that on October 27, 1907 — Meyers was lynched in Carrollton, Mississippi for complicity in murder.

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