October 17, 1891: Charles Miller, William Martin, and Robert Barton

Join me in a trip in history to Clifton Forge, Virginia. This voyage is brought to us through the pages of the Staunton Spectator (Staunton, Virginia) printed on the 21st of October, 1891:

Terrible Affair at Clifton Forge.

ONE WHITE MAN SHOT AND KILLED AND ANOTHER WOUNDED, AND ONE NEGRO SHOT AND KILLED AND ANOTHER WOUNDED, AND THREE NEGROES LYNCHED AND HANGED—IMMENSE EXCITEMENT TROOPS CALLED FOR IN ANTICIPATION OF AN ATTACK.

A dreadful affair occurred at Clifton Forge, Alleghany County, last Saturday. As well as we can learn from the various accounts, which are somewhat contradictory as to the details the facts, briefly stated, are about as follows. About noon on Saturday six armed negroes from Low Moor entered the town, avowing it was their purpose to take the place. They were boisterous in their boastings [sic] and misbehaving generally, when the officers of the place attempted to arrest them, but they drew their weapons and defied them. As the officers were unable to arrest them without assistance, they retired, when the negroes left, going down the road towards Iron Gate. In the meantime the officers summonsed a posse and went in pursuit. At Iron Gate they came in sight of them, and commanded them to halt. Before they approached very near each other both parties fired. In the shooting that then followed, Philip Bowling, a white man, and brakeman, was shot in the body and instantly killed. He is from Buckingham and a man of family. Frederick Wilkinson, a white man, also in the employ of the C. & O. Ry., was shot in the groin and seriously wounded. He is from Bedford. One of the negroes was shot and killed and another wounded. After a desperate resistance four of the negroes were captured, among them their leader, Charles Miller, who were handcuffed, taken to the town, and put in the lockup. Great indignation and intense excitement prevailed. About 10 o'clock that night a large body of men, many masked, assembled and went to the prison broke it open, and took out two of the negroes who were handcuffed together, and dragged them to a place about a mile distant known as Slaughter Hollow—an appropriate name—and hung them and riddled their bodies with bullets. Men were left to guard the prison whilst this was being done. They then returned and took the negro who had been shot and wounded, put him in a cart and drove him to the same place where he was also hanged and riddled with bullets. A negro boy in the number, about 16 years of age, we learn was released uninjured and told to go home. It is presumed that he did not stand upon the order of his going,  but went at once. One of the party of offending negroes made his escape and efforts are still being made to capture him. After the lynching the town became quiet. Not a negro was to be seen, but the citizens were all armed ready for any emergency as they could not tell what would happen.

On Sunday the excitement was very great, as it was rumored that the negroes from the several mines in that section—Glen Wilton, Iron Gate, Lowmoor, and Longdale—were contemplating an attack on the town. In the meantime the citizens were armed and ready to repel them. Pickets were stationed on all the roads. As a further matter of precaution, Gov. McKinney was telegraphed to for troops. He authorized them to call them, whereupon they telegraphed to Charlotte and Lynchburg. The Monticella Guards from Charlottesville passed here Monday morning and arrived at Clifton Forge at 9:36 o'clock, but finding therewas [sic] no use for them they returned in a few hours. The call to Lynchburg was countermanded.

On Monday all was quiet, and the citizens resumed their several occupations as usual.

The names of those hanged are Chas. Miller, Wm. Martin, and Robert Burton, and the one who was shot and killed on the railroad at Iron Gote [sic] is Robert Scott. The bodies of Miller and Martin were claimed by their friends and taken to Lowmoor for burial. Burton's body was buried at Clifton Forge by the citizens.

Wilkinson, the white man who was wounded, it is thought will recover.

The bodies of the hanged were taken down at 10 o'clock Sunday, when an inquest was held, and the jury consisting of Messrs. Davis, Hide, Lewis, Gillilan, Giverdon, Tribbett, and Farrar, rendered a verdict that they were hanged by parties unknown to the jury.

It feels like there is definitely a tale leading up to this incident. Thank you for joining me in this journey and as always, I hope I leave you with something to ponder.

October 16, 1889: James Hickey and Unknown Negro

Today I bring you two different lynchings that happened on the same date. I truly hate when I have no name for the lynched person, it seems horrible to me that even the name has been taken from the victim. I may not be able to give you the name, but I can give you the sparse details that the paper has printed.  Today's lynchings come from the Morning Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) dated October 18, 1889:

JUDGE LYNCH'S CARNIVAL.

People Who Prefer the Pistol to the Operation of law.

COLUMBIA, Tenn., Oct. 17—A negro, whose name is unknown, under arrest for striking another man, was taken from the officer yesterday by the man's friends and strung up, but cut down before dead and taken away. The officers have been searching for him all night. It is believed he has been lynched.

AFTER A RAPE FIEND.

KANSAS CITY, Oct. 17—W. R. Hildebrand was arrested at Birmingham last night for rape. A lynching party was organized, but the officers escaped with the prisoner to Clay county. The lynchers followed. The officers again eluded them, and are now with the prisoner.

MURDERED HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW.

COLUMBIA, S. C., Oct. 17—Robert Berrier, white, who last week murdered his mother-in-law at Lexington, N. C., was taken from the jail there by a mob and lynched.

ONE IN ALABAMA.

BRIGHAM, Ala., Oct. 17—James Hickey was lynched in Chilton county yesterday for murder.

I did not add Robert Berrier to the list because he was lynched on the fourteenth and not the sixteenth. Thank you for joining me today, and as always, I hope I leave you with something to ponder.

October 15, 1897: Douglas Boulte

Today's lynching comes to us from the pages of The Times (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) printed October 17, 1897:

RAN THE GAUNTLET AND WAS LYNCHED

The Fate of Douglas Boulte, a Negro Leader in Louisiana.

NEW ORLEANS, October 16.—Douglas Boulte, a negro leader, was lynched at a small settlement on Bayou Barataria, about fifteen miles from this city yesterday.

His offense was running the quarantine gauntlet.

Our article of interest comes to us from The Inter Ocean (Chicago, Illinois) dated September 26, 1892:

PLEADS FOR JUSTICE.

C. H. Shotwell, of New Orleans, on the Negro Question.

SOUTH'S BLOODY RECORD.

Colored Men Hanged on the Most Frivolous Charges.

No Protection Extended by the Authorities—In Republican Success Lies Their Only Hope.

The following speech was delivered by C. H. Shotwell, of New Orleans, editor of National Forecast, at the emancipation celebration at Kuhn's Park last Thursday:

Ladies and Gentlemen:  I will begin by making you the question:  Has the United States power to protect its citizens? In addressing you I shall aim to be very brief and to the point. The so called race problem is now a life and death question with a part of the citizens of this country. They are being shot, murdered, and burned at the stake without the semblance of law. The press, pulpit and every officer, from the President down to the humblest constabulary, should know the facts. The mobocracy of the South do not attempt to deny it. They glory in their guilt and gloat like fiends over their crimes of oppression, bloodshed and murder. The steady practice of the South shows a tree poisoned from topmost twig to deepest root. The colored people of the South are as ready to sustain sheriffs in their duty of executing condemned murderers as the whites of that section.

It Is the Concern of All.

Such evils as we are undergoing may be the divinely appointed whips and spurs to make us go forward to something better, and not rest indolently, contented in the negative comforts and half-virtues of quiet times. We believe in Providence as regard the future, and will do our work henceforth as those who are to give an account for every opportunity, talent and privilege. In this country we are all members of each other; no man can live to himself or die to himself. If one suffers, all suffer. You are all therefore obliged to interest yourselves in the condition of those around you. We study the same arts, sciences, and literature. We attend the same churches, have preached to us the same gospel and worship the same God. For your own sakes and the sake of your children, if not for the sake of God and humanity, you must do your part in assisting to settle this life and death question; lend your arm to sustain the weak and relieve the oppressed, and your sufficient reward will be to find that always and everywhere "it is more blessed to give than to receive."

A Congressional committee report discloses by innumerable witnesses that the white-line organization, an avowed military organization, leagued themselves together to prevent the enjoyment of suffrage and equal rights by the colored people of the South.The Knights of the White Shield, lately organized in Birmingham, Ala., and the regulators are similar organizations. These lawless bands have established in peace what they lost in battle—the nullity of the Constitution and State sovereignty. They acknowledge they are murdering American citizens regardless of law and in direct violation of the Constitution, and they ask you what are you going to do about it. As public sentiment makes and enforces law, we are appealing to public sentiment, believing, as we do, there are brains, courage, and patriotism enough in the moral and law-abiding people of this country to successfully grapple with this great and burning question. If, however, you are blind to justice and deaf to the plea of humanity, there is but one alternative left for us, that of self-preservation, though it cost rivers of blood.  

It is impossible to keep these Southern outrages out of politics, for it is the groundwork of all this lawlessness. There is no colored no Afro-American citizen. There is only a different color of skin, for out of one blood all nations of the earth were made. Wherever the Constitution applies and so long as the same flag floats over us all the laws of this country should not know individuals by the color of their skin or the texture of their hair, but as citizens of one Nation.

The Bloody Record.

But let us go briefly into the South's bloody record and ascertain the cause of the many murders perpetrated by the so-called Christian saints. In Nashville, Tenn., the Grizzard brothers were lynched on suspicion of assault. Governor Buchanan was present. He could have called out the militia had he felt disposed to maintain the law. In Little Rock, Ark., a prisoner was put into the penitentiary for safe keeping. A mob took him out and lynched him on suspicion of assault. Governor Eagle was present with the militia, Sheriff's police, and thousands of good citizens at his command. He showed no disposition to assert the supremacy of the law. In Lousiana a 13-year-old girl was lynched on suspicion of poisoning the family with whom she lived as a servant, none of whom died. The family had put down rat poison overnight, which had been carried to the water vessel from which the girl made coffee the next morning. She was swung into eternity because of the carelessness of her employers. In Georgia, June 15, a white man was found dead and three negroes were lynched on suspicion. Near Tutweiler, Miss., Will Robinson, a 17-year-old boy, was lynched on suspicion of assault. His accuser afterward admitted the innocence of the boy. In Charleston, Miss., a white man walking through his back yard heard the report of a pistol near by. He supposed that some one shot at him and accused three neggoes, [sic] who were arrested and jailed. A mob took them out and lynched them. Sheriff Calhoun and some 500 people stood by as gleefully as if they were witnessing a minstrel performance, while the innocent men were crying "murder," "murder," "fire," "fire," to attract the people of the town and the officers of the law to come to their rescue. They were hurried away by the blood-thirsty wretches and murdered; their remains hid in brush and hollow logs, and were only found by the vulture of the air. Horrible!

In Culmsneil, Texas, in June, three negroes were murdered on suspicion of assault. In Vicksburg, Miss., June 5, a white man was found dead and two negroes were arrested and taken to court for trial. A mob entered the temple of justice, seized the prisoners in open daylight and lynched them. No arrests for the horrible murder! In Texarkana, Ark., Ed Coy was lacerated with knives, tied to a tree, fagots saturated with coal oil piled up around him and burned to ashes. A white woman applied the torch. While his flesh was broiling on his bones, and the flames licking up his life-blood, the heartless wretches could not extort a confession from him. He looked his accuser in the face and said to her in the presence of the howling demons: "You know I am not guilty," thus protesting his innocence to the last. His wretched accuser has since admitted his innocence, and it is stated upon good authority that she is a raving maniac. The other Southern States furnish the world with eight more examples, equally horrible!

Taken Out of Jail and Shot.

Moss, Chase, and Stewart were taken out of jail at Memphis, Tenn., March 9, and shot on suspicion of shooting deputy sheriffs. These young men were rivals of a white man named Barrett, in the grocery business. Barrett envied their success, sought a personal difficulty with them, and got worsted. To revenge himself and break up their business he threatened to bring his hoodlum crowd and clean them out. Not having the courage of his convictions, he manufactured a false charge, "that the negroes at the curve were rising against the whites." Deputy sheriffs were sent to arrest them. The officers went in half drunk and commenced firing in every direction to frighten the negroes. They shot each other and swore the negroes shot them. The truth is that no negro fired a shot that night. 

Moss, Chase, and Stewart were jailed. A mob went to the jail; the fact is, they were invited in. The jailor unlocked the gate and then the door. The innocent men were soon in the hands of the mob and hurried away. They pleaded their innocence and begged for their lives. Moss begged to be spared long enough to see his invalid wife and infant child, and on seeing that he must die he cried out, "Let us turn our faces to the North." The word "North" infuriated the mob and a dozen bullets were fired through his head and his brains were scattered to the winds. Think of it! While hot lead was rattling at his head for admittance to the citadel of life, he made his last appeal to that section of this country which had been most friendly to his race. Moss was a Sabbath school teacher, an officer of the church, an industrious, honest, and honorable citizen, loved by all his own race and trusted and respected by the best white people of this city. The better element of the white memorialized the court to close the Barett hoodlum establishment. The prejudiced court refused. 

Seven Negroes Lynched. 

In Morganfield, Ky., seven negroes were lynched in a line in the same tree and same limb, accused of arson. No proof, no arrests, no trial. In Union County, Kentucky, five negroes were lynched in the court house yard; same charge and same procedure. In Camden, Ark., a negro was shot for saying "Hurrah for Grant." The unfortunate man was sent into eternity for speaking of his benefactor and the country's greatest general! In Roston, Ark., a negro was stabbed to death for rubbing against a white man on the narrow sidewalk. He was sent into eternity for thinking he had a right to half of the sidewalk. This occurred under the shadow of the temple of justice. In Hope, Ark., Christopher Parlor, a Sabbath-school teacher, was lynched for calling upon a white lady who had sent him a written invitation. In Chattanooga, Tenn., Weems was sentenced to twenty-one years in the penitentiary for a similar offense. Think of it! Parlor lynched and Weems sent to the penitentiary for twenty-one years for going where they were invited. In Louisiana an old negro was called out of his cabin and shot. He crawled back to his house and gave the names of some of the party and died. They killed him just to be "regulating." No other charge, and no arrests for the foul murder they had committed. 

At Westville, Miss., Aug. 11, a negro was taken from jail and lynched by a mob on suspicion of assault. At Alexandria, La., William Addison, seen coming out of the backyard of a white family, was murdered by a constable. It is the custom in the South for domestics to enter and depart from the read of the whites' dwellings. He was robbed of his life for following the custom of the country. Near Farmersville, La., July 30, Walter Low was given up by an officer to a mob and lynched on suspicion of robbery or assault. The blood-hungry assassins could no agree as to which charge to make. At Greenville, Ala., Aug. 14, Major Newcart was murdered for saying "Hurrah for Jones," a democratic candidate for Governor. He was riddled with bullets by Farmer's Alliance partisans for announcing his choice of the candidates. 

Near Fishville, La., April 3, an old peddler was found dead and four negroes were lynched. There was no proof of their guilt and no trial. In Georgia, Aug. 2, a negro was lynched for talking to his neighbor about a former riot two years ago. he was swung into eternity for speaking of former murders. At Memphis, Tenn., during the last State encampment, little Willie Howard was shot through by an officer "just for fun." The boy had committed the crime of only looking at the soldiers drill. In Laurens, Va., May 31, a negro was lynched on suspicion of stealing $50 dollars worth of merchandise. This occurred on our National prayer day. The idea of Southern whites lynching on a human being for dishonesty! Only a few years ago Virginia refused to pay her creditors some $2,000,000 under the guise of readjustment. The State treasury of Kentucky is short $100,000; Mississippi, $325,000, and of Louisiana $300,000, on account of defaulting and absconding treasurers. Every Southern State has robbed its creditors of honest money and the negro of his labor and his rights. Still they are special champions of honesty. The presumption of law is that every man is innocent until proven guilty. In the South no opportunity is allowed a negro, fearing he might establish his innocence. 

Long Calendar of Crime.

But let us recapitulate. During the last eighteen months 360 men, women, and children have been lynched and nine burned. The Southern officials have not made a single arrest. ninety-nine percent of those lynched and burned were ushered into the presence of God protesting their innocence. The Hon. Isaac C. Parker, United States District Judge for the western district of Arkansas, said that in the last two years 10,1*6 murders were committed, and out of this number only 552 have been overtaken by justice. The majority of them were innocent negroes. But as to the 360 referred to as being lynched and burned, not a single perpetrator has been brought to justice. Still the constitution declares that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law." So you see we are in an interregnum where there is no law to punish crime. Volumes might be written reciting the blood-curdling murders perpetrated upon our innocent people, and still the half would not be told. It is one long calendar of crime covering 273 years. During the last twenty-seven years of our alleged citizenship there has been no cessation of crime, bloodshed, and murder. More of our people have fallen victims to the lawless, prejudiced, and turbulent element of the South during this period of human butchery than were killed in battle during our internecine strife.

But let us turn away from the nauseating scene; it is too sickening to look upon. Again I ask the question, is the government of the United States powerless to protect its citizens? If such is the case, I beseech the 15,000,000 white Christians of America to think upon this great and burning question; think upon it for the welfare of your homes, for the protection of your children, for the perpetuation of your government, and for the love of God and humanity. These outrages must abate. That grand old man, Frederick Douglass, is sounding the battle cry. B. K. Bruce, John Lynch, John M. Langston, James Hill, R. T. Greene, Colonel Robert Smalls are all in line. President Harrison has in his letter of acceptance mapped out the future legislation of his party upon this life-and-death question in the following forcible manner:

"I have used every suitable occasion to urge upon the people of all sections the consideration that no good cause can be promoted upon the lines of lawlessness. Mobs do not discriminate, and the punishments inflicted by them have no repressive or salutary influences. On the contrary they beget revenges and perpetuate feuds. It is especially the duty of the educated and influential to see that the weak and ignorant, when accused of crime, are fairly tried before lawful tribunals." 

That is all we ask. The president might have stopped there. But he goes further and says: "The moral sentiment of the country should be aroused and brought to bear for the suppression of these offenses against the discriminated order." . . .

I think you probably get the drift. The article goes on for quite a bit more, almost the entire page. I just have to say that "very brief and to the point" seems to mean something different to me than to Mr. Shotwell. Thank you for joining me today and as always, I hope I have given you something to ponder.

October 14, 1920: Select Reid

Today's lynching comes to us from The Washington Post (Washington, D. C.) dated October 15, 1920:

ATTACKS "BOSS;" IS LYNCHED

Posse Riddles Discharged Negro's Body With Bullets.

Greenville, Ala., Oct. 14.—Select Reid, a negro, was lynched by a mob near Greenville today after an attack by him on A. H. Arrington, superintendent of the Southern Cottonoil Company plant.

The superintendent had discharged the negro and he was struck by him with an iron pipe, and is not expected to live.

The negro was followed by a posse, which located him in a swamp. At noon today his body was found in the swamp riddled with bullets. the circuit court is now in session and an investigation will start at once. 

An article of interest comes to us from the Richmond Planet (Richmond, Virginia) printed August 19, 1899:

A REIGN OF TERROR

A Deplorable Condition of Affairs in Georgia—Gov, Chandler Appealed to.

ATLANTA, GA., Aug. 15.—A special to the Constitution from Greenwood, S. C., says:

The sheriff of this county to-day appealed to Governor McSweeney for aid to assist him in the suppressing White Caps outrages which began here suddenly one week ago.

To-night the Governor sent word that he would be in Greenwood tomorrow with Attorney-General Bollinger to make a personal investigation of the situation.

For more than a week a gang of so called White Caps have been whipping colored people in this county nearly every night. The section between Greenwood and Phoenix is largely tenanted by colored people who rent from white landlords. It was at Phoenix, in the community thickly settled by colored people, that the election riots between blacks and whites took place last November. Since then, among a lower class of whites, there has been an unrelenting disposition to drive out the colored people, and certain white men here, it is said, desire to get control of the valuable lands, thereabout, and in order to do so, they have set about to drive the colored people out.

Monday night, one week ago, the whipping began. Colored people's houses were visited and the inmates taken out and beaten. Several night last week this performance was repeated and a wide territory has been covered in this manner by the White Cappers. The colored people are said to be in a state of terror and many spend the nights in the woods and swamps while others seek the protection of their white landlords.

On Saturday night two hundred colored people spent the night in Greenwood and many of them have never returned to their homes, fearing to do so. So far as is known, none have left the county.

I am sure that the Governor of Georgia at the time was Gov. Chandler, unfortunately this article may have been printed in an Atlanta paper, the actual news is in South Carolina.  I guess that's a lesson about not skimming a source before one writes an article. Thank you for joining me and as always, I hope I leave you with something to ponder. 

October 13, 1892: Jim Packer, Handy Packer, Burrell Jones, Morse/Moses Jones

The first leg of our journey through time is brought to us by The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri) on October 14, 1892: 

DISMEMBERED AND BURNED. 

Bodies of Four Negro Brutes Torn to Pieces and Cremated. 

Monroeville, Ala., Oct. 14.—The bodies of the four negroes, Jim Packer and his brother, Morse Johnson and Burrell Jones, who were lynched for the foul murders of Planter Johnson and his daughter last night were cut down as soon as life was extinct and the bodies torn to pieces by the maddened mob and then gathered together in a large heap and burned as they had burned the bodies of their helpless victims. 

Our next stop is the Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) on October 14, 1892:

NEGRO MURDERERS ARE LYNCHED

A Mob Takes the Four Men Who Killed Mr. and Miss Johnson and Hangs Them. 

SUNNY SOUTH, Ala., Oct. 13.—A mob at Monroeville last night took Burrell Jones and his son Moses, with two accomplices, who were charged with murdering Mr. Richard L. Johnson and his daughter, Miss Jonnie, and burning the bodies at their residence at Davis Ferry on the Alabama River. The officials learned that a mob had been organized from the neighborhood of Teach Tree for the purpose of burning the four negroes at the stake. The prisoners were at once taken from the jail and an attempt made to spirit them away, but the officials ran into another mob who took the prisoners and after hanging them to a tree filled their bodies with bullets. Burrell Jones made a full confession while in jail and said that the four men went to Johnson's for the purpose of robbery, and the old man discovered them, whereupon he was murdered with an ax. The daughter, Miss Johnnie came to the rescue of her father and they murdered her. The house was then set on fire to hide all traces of the crime. The mob that was to have burned the culprits expressed much dissatisfaction at being thwarted in their designs. 

Our final leg of our journey comes to us from the The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington , N. C.) October 16, 1892:

THE ALABAMA HORROR. 

CORRECT ACCOUNT OF THE JOHNSON MURDER. 

The Fiendish Perpetrators Riddled With Bullets and Instantly Killed—False Accounts By Sensational Reporters Corrected—The Bodies of the Murderers Not Burned or Mutilated. 

MOBILE, Ala., Nct.[sic] 15.—On Wednesday last there was so vigorous a demand for the particulars of the lynching of the negroes who murdered Richard L. Johnson and his beautiful daughter Jennie, at Davis' Ferry Friday night October 7th, that special correspondents of a number of papers manufactured details suitable to the occasion, stating that after hanging the men and riddling their bodies with bullets, the mob burned them, the roasting proceeding while one of the victims was yet alive. The locality was so distant from a telegraph station that it was impossible for these details to have been communicated at the time, and it is not surprising to learn that they are for the most part false.  

Friday night Johnson was killed at his front gate and his daughter was killed in the house while she was playing the piano. The house was then set on fire and consumed, Johnson's body being previously placed therein. Saturday morning Handy Packer, Jim Packer, Moses Johnson and Moses Jones, with several other negroes, were arrested. Handy Packer made a statement which convinced the crowd that his brother Jim Packer and Moses Johnson were guilty and a proposition was made that the two be lynched, but wiser counsel prevailed. The two men were taken before a magistrate where both asserted their innocence and were duly charged and committed to jail at Monroeville, twenty miles distant, where they arrived Saturday night. During the day blood was found on the clothing of Moses Jones, and an ax with blood and hair on the eye was found in the yard of Burrell Jones, Moses' brother. Thereupon Moses Jones was rearrested and also Handy Packer, because his evidence had not hitherto implicated Moses Jones. 

Handy Packer them made a full confession. He said that on the morning of the murder he, Moses Johnson, Moses Jones and Jim Packer agreed to kill Robert L. Johnson and get his money. They arranged the details and met that night in the woods about 300 yards from Johnson's. They advanced to Johnson's gate at 9 o'clock. Handy and Jim Packer were set to watch the roadside in each direction and the other two called Johnson to the gate. As soon as he came up Moses struck him with an ax and Moses Jones and Moses Johnson went into the house. Packer claimed that he and his brother remained outside all the time. He did not know what happened in the house, and heard but one scream from Miss Jennie. The two men ran out very quickly and all four departed, much scared and without any money. They recovered their courage in half an hour, however, and returned. They found Johnson had crawled ten feet towards the house and died. They took up his body and carried it into the house depositing it in a room different from that in which Miss Jennie lay dead. They all four set fire to the house and awaited to see that it was burning well before they departed. Handy Packer and Moses Jones were sent to Monroeville jail Tuesday, arriving there at 8 o'clock at night. Jim Packer and Moses Johnson were then questioned and the answers they made convinced the questioners that Handy Packer had told the truth. They all denied that any violence offered to the young lady. 

The news of the confession spread rapidly and Wednesday morning early 200 men gathered and consulted near the jail in Monroeville. They called on the Sheriff and Jailor [sic] J. D. Foster for the keys of the jail, but he replied that he had sworn to do his duty and would not surrender the prisoners. The mob at once tore down the fence surrounding the jail and broke in the jail door. They overpowered Foster and took the keys of the cells from him and soon had possession of the four negroes. The people were very much excited, and some proposed to start a bonfire and throw the negroes into it, but the leaders said that the men should be taken to the scene of the crime. At 7 o'clock the procession started in the direction of Davis Ferry. At Gratom's bridge over Flat creek the patience of the mob gave out, however, and they decided upon the immediate punishment of the four negroes. The doomed men were marched twenty yards up the road and stationed in line, their hands tied behind their backs. Then the order was given to fire and every gun was discharged. The negroes were all killed instantly. Their bodies were left where they fell and were neither burned nor mutilated. The oldest of the four was about 19 years of age.   

None of the newspaper accounts seem to agree and I found this with most of the accounts I read. Thank you for joining me and as always, I hope I have left you with something to ponder.

October 12, 1942: Charlie Lang and Ernest Green

Join me in journeying to the past to Meridian, Mississippi through the pages of the Belvidere Daily Republican (Belvidere, Illinois) on October 12, 1942:

Two Negro Boys, 14 Years Old, Lynched

MERIDIAN, Miss., Oct. 12—The lynching of two 14-year-old Negro boys was disclosed today when their bodies were found at a river bridge about 35 miles south of here.

The Negroes, Charlie Lang and Ernest Green, both of Shubuta, were taken from the Quitman jail yesterday by a mob of irate, unidentified men who overpowered City Marshall G. F. Dabbs.

Lang and Green were arrested last Tuesday and accused of waylaying a 13-year-old white girl who was walking home from school. Both Negroes entered pleas of guilty to charges of attempted rape.

When Dabbs answered a knock at the jail door yesterday, members of the mob threw a blanket over his head, pinned down his arms, took his keys and then locked him in the women's cell.

Sheriff Lloyd McNeal of Clarke county, who began looking for the boys, found their bodies suspended from the bridge where the girl was waylaid.

Danville, Virginia's The Bee will bring us the next part of the troubles in Mississippi on the 13th of October, 1942:

Assailants Of Girl Lynched In Mississippi

Governor Vows Justice To Men Who Slew Negroes

JACKSON, Miss., Oct. 13.—(AP)—Governor Paul Johnson has served notice that he will do all in his power to bring to justice a group of unidentified men who lynched two negroes early yesterday in Clarke county. 

Charlie Lang and Ernest Green, both 14, of Shubuta, were taken from the Quitman jail after they had entered plas [sic] of guilty to charges of attempted rape of a 13-year-old white girl.

"I will exert every reasonable effort to see that the violated laws of Mississippi are vindicated," said Johnson. "Such acts are spots upon the good name of Mississippi and the better class of people here condemn this wrong."

The governor said he had asked Sheriff Lloyd McNeal of Clarke county why he hadn't moved the negroes after the guilty pleas Saturday and the sheriff replied that he had been advised by the county attorney that it would be all right to keep the negroes in the Quitman jail.

"He said he saw no evidence of any probable lynching," Johnson continued, "but I told him it was his duty to notify the governor so the prisoners could be protected as has been done before."

The Bee also informs us in the next leg of our journey in Mississippi on the 21st of October, 1942:

3 Lynchings Investigated By FBI Agents

Governor Johnson Welcomes Inquiry By Federal Men

JACKSON, Miss., Oct. 21.—(AP)—Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ordered by Attorney General Biddle to investigate lynchings of three negroes in Mississippi last week, have the welcome of the state's chief executive.

Governor Paul Johnson said he had done his full duty in trying to see that the laws violated by the lynchers were vindicated. He said state troopers have arrested five men believed to be part of the lynching of Howard Wash, 45, at Laurel after Wash was convicted of slaying his employer and given a life sentence.

He added, however, that the men were later released by county and district officials. The governor intimated that his investigator had been unable to learn the identity of mobsters who lynched Charlie Lang and Ernest Green, 14 year old Shubuta residents who were dragged from the Quitman jail October 12.

"It remains with the civil officers of the counties in which the lynchings were committed to follow up the cases," Johnson declared. "If the federal government acting within its constitutional powers can be of assistance to the state I shall welcome any investigation it wishes to make."

It was reported here that G-men already are investigating the lynchings. S. C. Broom, assistant U. S. District Attorney here, said his office had been instructed to assist the agents.

The final leg of our journey is told through The Pittsburg Courier (Pittsburg, Pennsylvania) on October 31, 1942:

Folks In Dixie "Lynch Town" Don't Care About FBI Probe

COURIER AND PM SEND REPORTER; HERE'S HIS STORY

EDITOR'S NOTE:—The Pittsburg Courier believes in giving its readers the truth . . . FIRST:  With this in mind, this news paper has made an arrangement with the liberal New York daily PM, to have one of their "ace" reporters, Victor H. Bernstein, fly to Jackson, Miss., and then go to Quitman, Miss., by automobile to get an EXCLUSIVE story.

Mr. Bernstein's graphic story, dramatically portraying the "story behind the story," is printed herewith.

By VICTOR H. BERNSTEIN

Special Correspondent, The Pittsburg Courier and PM

(Copyright 1942, Field Publications and The Pittsburg Courier)

JACKSON, Miss., Oct. 29—Sheriff Lloyd McNeal, of Quitman, told me his version of the story. He is a husky, red-headed fellow; self-spoken and very polite when he puts his mind to it. He put his mind to it this time.

We sat in his car parked in a lot besides the courthouse in Quitman. The courthouse is like ten thousand others in rural America, with shabby corridors and dim cubbyhole—offices and bulletin boards plastered with yellow and fly specked notices. Quitman itself—population 1400—consists of a couple hundred yards of highway 45, and two or three short side streets running off to the West.

"THEY GOT A FAIR AND SQUARE HEARING. . ."

"First off," said the Sheriff, "The papers got the ages wrong, sayin['] they were 14. Mr. Simpson tells me the Green boy worked for him ten years ago, and that he was yearlin' age then. You better put it down. Them N......rs wasn't 14, They were maybe 16 to 18.

"All right. We arrested them N......rs—Charlie Lang and Ernest Green—a week ago last Tuesday. We went down to Shubuta and got 'em on complaint of a 13-year-old girl. We brought 'em up here and they got a fair-and-square hearing before Justice of the Peace W. E. Eddings and they confessed to attempted rape."

"Do those boys know what attempted rape is?"

"It was this way," said the Sheriff. "They tol' us they waited for the girl at the bridge, knowin' she came that way from school. One N......r waited under the bridge. The other hid beside the road. When the girl came along, this Green jumped out at her from beside the road.

"You scared me, boy," the girl said.

"I'm gonna do worse than that," the N......r said and grabbed for her. She ran away. Green said he was planning to grab her and bring her down under the bridge to the other N......r."

"Did Green touch the girl?"

"Why, no. A car came along and it scared him. Like I said, the girl run away."

"And that's the story the boys told?"

SHERIFF TALKS ABOUT LYNCHING

"Yes, sir, and another thing. Don't let anybody tell you them N......rs was beaten up or anything. They got a fair and square hearin' before the Justice of the Peace and they confessed. We never touched them."

Then he told about the lynching. That was the following Monday, about 1:30 a. m. Somebody called City Marshal Dabbs at his home and said he was a constable with a prisoner and could the jail be opened? So Dabbs dressed and drove around to the jail behind the courthouse. And when he got out two men grabbed him, pulled his coat over his head and one of them stole his keys. Someone held him for a while and the next thing he knew he heard a car starting up and going away fast.

Another Negro prisoner in the jail later said he saw only two men inside, getting the two boys. The Sheriff says he figures the job was done by three men, certainly not more than four.

SEARCHING PARTY LOOKED FOR BRIDGES

The Sheriff organized a searching party, then. And they went down a couple of roads looking for bridges, because, of course, he knew what he was looking for. And on a dirt road two miles East of Shubuta they came to this old bridge over the winding Chickashaway river, and they looked beneath, and there was a rusty beam, and there below the beam the two boys hung. Their brown toes curling downward towards the quiet water.

This was the bridge which figured in this story the boys are said to have told before the Justice of the Peace. It is also the bridge where Clarke County's last lynching took place, in 1918, when four Negroes—two of them girls—were hanged for complicity in the murder of a local dentist. Statistical -minded people say six people were really lynched, not four, because the two girls had been present.

I asekd [sic] the Sheriff:

"WE BEEN SEARCHIN', BUT FOLKS WON'T TALK"

"How do the townspeople feel about the lynching?"

"We're all for law and order here," the Sheriff said. "But, of course, we got some good folks who get kind of wild. Them N......rs is gettin' uppity, you know."

"Has anything been done to catch the lynchers?"

"Why, sure. We been searching, and you know the Governor sent down some of his State Guard. And now the FBI is around asking questions. But you know how it is, people don't like to tell on their friends."

"Do you thing [sic], if the FBI turned up some evidence, or maybe you did, you could get a Grand Jury to indict and a jury to convict?"

"That's a tough question" said the Sheriff. "I really wouldn't know. Feeling runs high against N.....rs sometimes."

"Have you any idea, Sheriff what can be done to prevent things like this in the future?"

"Why, no," the Sheriff said. "I don't think I have."

DOESN'T BELIEVE IN MOBS, BUT DOES NOTHING

I walked across the highway and dropped in to speak to the editor of the Clark County Tribune. This editor isn't really a native; he comes from a couple of counties below.

"I don't believe in violence," he told me. "None of the better people around here believe in violence. This kind of thing is bad for the town, for the country and for the state."

"Did you write an editorial about the lynching?"

"To tell the truth, no. I covered the lynching, all right. Just a straight story, but seems to me my best policy is to forget it, now."

I asked what good it was to be against lynching and yet not do anything about it. He said something about "What's the use of making speeches to empty chairs."

DOESN'T BELIEVE THE FBI WILL GET ANYWHERE

I asked, "Do you think the FBI will get anywhere?"

"Frankly, no," he said. "There's lots of people here  don't like the idea of the government comin' in on a local affair. We got our pride, you know."

Around the bolck [sic] I talked to a man whose name had been given me in Jackson. He was an educated fellow.

"It is a terrible thing," the man said. "There was no call for mob violence. There's never a call for mob violence."

"You're apparently one of the leading citizens here," I said. "Have you made any public statements? Have you tried to organize a protest?"

"Why, no," he said. "I haven't talked to anyone about it. I've got other things on my mind."

He was a sad-looking man, and I'm sure he was speaking the truth when he said he had other things on his mind. I thought about it on the way back to my car. Everybody in Quitman seemed to have things on their mind. I wondered if one of the things was the fear of being called N......' Lover."

No, I didn't get to see the families of the lynched boys. I should have, I know, but I didn't because a man in Quitman told me quietly, "It wouldn't do them N......rs any good to be seen talking to you."

That brings us to the end of our journey. Thank you for joining me and as always, I hope I leave you with something to ponder.

October 11, 1910: Grant Richardson

Today we find our lynching in the pages of The Washington Post (Washington, D. C.) printed on the 13th of October, 1910:

MOB LYNCHES PRISONER.

Takes Negro From Deputy and Riddles Body With Bullets.

Montgomery, Ala., Oct. 12.—Grant Richardson, a negro, was lynched last night near Centerville, by a mob. He was being brought to Bibb county jail, charged with assaulting a white woman.

The deputy having him in charge was overpowered and the negro's body was riddled with bullets.

An article of interest is found in the Richmond Planet (Richmond, Virginia) printed on the 19th of August, 1899:

(Harper's Weekly.)

There has been another extensive Negro hunt in Georgia. A woman is said to have been assaulted by two Negroes at Saffold on July 20. Up to July 25, five Negroes had been lynched on account of this crime, and several other deaths were likely to follow. The custom in these cases seems to be to extort confessions from the perpetrators of the crime when caught, and then to hunt down and kill all Negroes implicated by the criminals' testimony. Heaven knows what degree of justice or injustice is done!

At such time the wildest and most improbable tales seem to find credence and when killing is all over, and denial is made that any of the men killed were guilty of anything, it is impossible to prove the denial. There is no machinery for proving a man's guilt after you have killed him. It has been asserted repeatedly, and is very widely believed, that Sam Hose, who was roasted in Georgia last spring was guilty of no worse crime than killing a man in self-defence; and as for Strickland, the Negro preacher who was killed at the same time, the charges against him were improbable, to say the least.

Now it will be asserted that there was no assault committed at Saffold, and that the gang of Negroes who were said to be accessories were innocent. There will be no record of their guilt, no recorded testimony, nothing to show for their taking off but pistols, ropes, and scalps. Lynching is surely very unsatisfactory. There is a strong feeling against it now in the South, and here's hoping that it will grow. The papers said last week that a Georgian named Cardell, who captured Mack, one of the principals in crime at Saffold, secreted his prisoner with intent to get him to jail, and only gave him up when a rope had been put around his own neck and hangin[g] threatened.

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