The Plight and Legacy of Mary Turner (1897-1918)

Mary Turner, in 1918, was lynched because she had the audacity to speak out about her husband being lynched.

Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)
Monday, 20 May 1918 -- pg. 1 [via GenealogyBank]

WOMAN LYNCHED NEAR VALDOSTA

Negro Woman Hanged and Body Riddled With Bullets Because She Made "Unwise" Remarks About Lynching of Husband.

Valdosta, Ga., May 19. – Mary Turner, wife of Hayes Turner, was hanged this afternoon at Folsome's Bridge over Little River about sixteen miles north of Valdosta.  Hayes Turner was hanged at the Okapilco river in Brooks county last night.  His wife, it is claimed, made unwise remarks today about the execution of her husband and the people in their indignant mood took exceptions to her remarks as well as her attitude and without waiting for nightfall took her to the river where she was hanged and her body riddled with bullets.

This makes five persons lynched in this section as a result of the Smith tragedy at Barney…

On Thursday night two negroes stole a shot gun from Hampton Smith at Barney and shot and killed Smith in his home.  Mrs. Smith fled from the house and was attacked.  She awoke the following morning in a creek and went to a negro cabin for aid.  Those who investigated her story found Smith's body and the negroes, farm hands, had disappeared.

Since then the farming section of that part of the state has been greatly aroused.

Another article from the same newspaper, published the next day, stated the following:

It was definitely established today that only four negroes have been lynched in connection with the crime and a coroner's jury returned a verdict that "they came to their deaths at the hands of parties unknown." Those who have paid the penalty were Will Head, Eugene Rice, Hayes Turner and his wife, Mattie Turner.

While there are no words I could say – or type – that would even begin to make sense of the lynching of a single human being, the lynching of a woman because of her unwise remarks and attitude leaves me especially bereft of speech.  This was not the case for Joseph B. Cumming in 1918, however.  He wrote a letter to the editor of the Augusta Chronicle explaining his thoughts on the matter:

LETTERS FROM PEOPLE

LYNCHING A NEGRO WOMAN FOR "UNWISE REMARK."

Editor Chronicle:
A new capital offense in Georgia – and one so heinous that it cannot wait on the regular and orderly processes of law, but must be punished by those noble protectors of society – lynchers! The designation of this crime, calling for such swift punishment, is "Unwise Remarks." This important evolution of our criminal code and its righteous treatment are thus spoken of in the following Associated Press dispatch:  Negro Woman Hanged and Body Riddled With Bullets Because She Made "Unwise" Remarks About Lynching of Husband.

…Of all the horrible occurrences that have disgraced the state of Georgia this is the most horrible.

Look at this picture:  A poor, abject negro woman is informed of the lynching of her husband – let it be granted, himself a murderer.  She cannot keep silence [sic].  She cannot express her agony in terms of Christian forgiveness.  She cannot even use the high-sounding phrases of the fine old pagan philosophers.  She blurts out an "unwise remark." Away with her to the nearest limb! Break her neck and then manifest the calm, righteous and judicial judgement of her executioners by "riddling her body with bullets." Were these human beings or fiends hot from hell? Was she a human being? If not, let us stop calling on her race for men to fight, as we are sure they will well do, for our country and for us.  Where are the grand juries? Where are the petit juries? Where are the sheriffs? Where is public opinion? Is it dead? Or is it cowed by a handful of the most detestable murderers and cowards? God in heaven have mercy on us! Let the governor – if he will do no more – proclaim a day of deepest humiliation and most earnest prayer, in which we may plead humbly and agonizingly with the All-Father, who, dreadful thought, has said:  "Vengeance is mine," not to visit his righteous vengeance on us in the slaughter on the sea and across the sea of our dear boys, who, with negro comrades in arms, have gone to fight for the betterment of the world. – JOSEPH B. CUMMING.

It's important to note the article transcribed at the beginning of this post is not entirely accurate, or at least does not tell the whole story.  In regards specifically to Mary Turner, the article did not mention she was eight months pregnant.  The Mary Turner Project, citing four scholarly and historical sources, provides a more detailed account:

To punish her, at Folsom's Bridge the mob tied Mary Turner by her ankles, hung her upside down from a tree, poured gasoline on her and burned off her clothes. One member of the mob then cut her stomach open and her unborn child dropped to the ground where it was reportedly stomped on and crushed by a member of the mob. Her body was then riddled with gunfire from the mob. Later that night she and her baby were buried ten feet away from where they were murdered. The makeshift grave was marked with only a "whiskey bottle" with a "cigar" stuffed in its neck.

The article at top also stated "only four negroes have been lynched in connection with the crime" of killing plantation owner Hampton Smith.  Other victims of lynch law that should have been known at the time were Will Thompson and Julius Jones.  But there would be more victims to come, including Chime Riley, Simon Schuman, and Sidney Johnson.

According to a Georgia historical marker placed near the site of Mary's lynching, there were at least two additional victims.  In fact, the entire ordeal was dubbed "the Lynching Rampage of 1918." Text from the marker:

Mary Turner and the Lynching Rampage of 1918

Near this site on May 19, 1918, twenty-one year old Mary Turner, eight months pregnant, was burned, mutilated, and shot to death by a local mob after publicly denouncing her husband’s lynching the previous day. In the days immediately following the murder of a white planter by a black employee on May 16, 1918, at least eleven local African Americans including the Turners died at the hands of a lynch mob in one of the deadliest waves of vigilantism in Georgia’s history. No charges were ever brought against known or suspected participants in these crimes. From 1880-1930, as many as 550 people were killed in Georgia in these illegal acts of mob violence.

According to MonroeWorkToday, the lynching of Mary Turner is referenced in A Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882-1930 and Fitzhugh Brundage's Lynching in the New South: Georgia and Virginia, 1880-1930.  Mr. Brundage noted the lynching rampage of 1918 was "perhaps the most extraordinary example of wanton slaughter."

Part of the legacy of Mary Turner was briefly mentioned above – The Mary Turner Project (MTP) is a diverse, grassroots volunteer collective of students, educators, and local community members who are committed to racial justice and racial healing.  Learn more about the plight of Mary Turner and her legacy at MaryTurner.org.

Furthermore, The Color Line Murders podcast explored this unfathomable incident in episode 2.

A simple search on Google will give you the statistics. The Tuskegee Institute kept track of lynchings in America from 1882 - 1968. There were 581 in Mississippi, 531 in Georgia, 493 in Texas, 391 in Louisiana, 347 in Alabama, and so on. Total from all states: 4,743. That's more than one lynching and victim a week.

I feel a little like I should try to explain why I would give the horrible acts – those committed by the criminal, as well as those committed on the criminal – voice on this blog. There are no (at least to my knowledge) statistics showing the accuracy of the lynchers. How many times was an innocent person hung, riddled with bullets, and mutilated in the name of "justice?" I mean, we probably agree there are innocent people sitting in jail right now – with supposed checks and balances in place. Imagine when there were none. Shouldn't those innocent people be remembered?

Now, make no mistake, sometimes the lynching party "punished" the right person. As in, sometimes the true perpetrator was indeed apprehended – and then disposed of, often in a barbaric fashion. Even if you take the literal "eye for an eye" death penalty approach, I would not be surprised if that would have been an applicable punishment in only an infinitesimal number of cases. People were lynched for stealing, people were lynched for "insubordination," people were lynched for literally being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And let us not be cowards and leave out the racism debacle that lingers to this day. So another reason for giving voice to these past atrocities is in the same vein of "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

As a family historian, I am saddened to think (1) these revolting deeds took place, and (2) while statistics are easy to find, the names and stories of the individual victims are much harder to locate. A list of lynching victims will unfortunately never be complete. I hope that in a small way, posts such as these will serve as a memorial to those who were victims of Judge Lynch and his frightful law.

Terrified Members of Lint Shaw's Family Refused to Claim the Body

Linton "Lint" Shaw was born 7 March 1894 at Colbert, Madison County, Georgia.  He might have been separated from his parents when a young boy, since he was listed with grandparents for the 1900 U.S. Federal census.  About 1914, Lint married Georgia Hill.  By 1936, the couple had as many as 11 children, including Linton/Leonard, Wilbur, Lois, Sugar Lee, Emma, and Willie/Willy.  The elder Linton supported the family by farming and laboring for the railroad.

Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)
Wednesday, 29 April 1936 -- pg. 2
Complete article may be viewed at GenealogyBank.

THRICE RESCUED NEGRO LYNCHED…

Royston, Ga., April 28 (AP) – A giant Negro, three times the object of thwarted mob action, was lynched here today at the point where he was accused of attempting to criminally assault two young girls.

Lint Shaw, the sullen 225-pound prisoner once saved from mob vengeance by the dramatic plea of a 74-year-old superior court judge, was hustled out of the one-story jail here shortly after midnight by a band of 40 men a few hours before his scheduled trial.

His bullet torn body, tied by a cotton plow line to a pine tree, was found at daybreak in a creek bottom near his home at Colbert, Ga.  A quick assembled coroner's jury returned a finding the 45-year-old Shaw died of gunshot wounds inflicted by "persons unknown."

Terrified members of the Negro's family refused to claim the body…

In addition to Georgia and the children, the terrified members of Lint's family likely included siblings from the area.  These might have included Emma, Nancy, Eddie, Ginpin, Estell, and Fannie.

Georgia likely fled Madison County shortly after her husband was murdered.  By December of the same year, she had to bury a son, Leonard, in Cook County, Illinois.  Georgia was residing in Chicago by 1940, caring for her brood of at least 8 children as a common laborer in a factory.

Georgia Shaw died in Chicago the day after Christmas, 1957.

The lynching of Lint/Lent Shaw has been mentioned recently in the news: Great-grandson of lynching victim faces the past: "This is American history"

A simple search on Google will give you the statistics. The Tuskegee Institute kept track of lynchings in America from 1882 - 1968. There were 581 in Mississippi, 531 in Georgia, 493 in Texas, 391 in Louisiana, 347 in Alabama, and so on. Total from all states: 4,743. That's more than one lynching and victim a week.

I feel a little like I should try to explain why I would give the horrible acts – those committed by the criminal, as well as those committed on the criminal – voice on this blog. There are no (at least to my knowledge) statistics showing the accuracy of the lynchers. How many times was an innocent person hung, riddled with bullets, and mutilated in the name of "justice?" I mean, we probably agree there are innocent people sitting in jail right now – with supposed checks and balances in place. Imagine when there were none. Shouldn't those innocent people be remembered?

Now, make no mistake, sometimes the lynching party "punished" the right person. As in, sometimes the true perpetrator was indeed apprehended – and then disposed of, often in a barbaric fashion. Even if you take the literal "eye for an eye" death penalty approach, I would not be surprised if that would have been an applicable punishment in only an infinitesimal number of cases. People were lynched for stealing, people were lynched for "insubordination," people were lynched for literally being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And let us not be cowards and leave out the racism debacle that lingers to this day. So another reason for giving voice to these past atrocities is in the same vein of "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

As a family historian, I am saddened to think (1) these revolting deeds took place, and (2) while statistics are easy to find, the names and stories of the individual victims are much harder to locate. A list of lynching victims will unfortunately never be complete. I hope that in a small way, posts such as these will serve as a memorial to those who were victims of Judge Lynch and his frightful law.

Colored Preacher Alfred Turner Killed

It started as a joke.  But eventually, because someone dared to fight back through the courts in 1877, preacher Alfred Turner was killed.

With the Ku Klux Act, passed just six years earlier in 1871, Congress authorized "President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations, and use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)." [Source:  History.com] – Something to keep in mind when reading the following article.

Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)
Wednesday, 25 April 1877 -- pg. 1 [via GenealogyBank]

OGLETHORPE OUTRAGES.

ONE MAN KILLED AND ANOTHER ONE WHIPPED.

The Crawford Riot – Regulators Again to the Front – Self-Constituted Judges and Juries – A Colored Preacher Killed – Another Colored Man Brutally Beaten – The Grand Jury Condemns the Lawlessness.

Some time since the CHRONICLE AND CONSTITUTIONALIST gave an account of a riot in the town of Crawford, Oglethorpe county, Georgia, in which the Town Marshal was wounded by a band of armed negroes.  Since that time there seems to have been a good deal of excitement in the county and we have to chronicle this morning two deeds of lawlessness which deserve the severest punishment.  The prime cause of all these disorders is to be found in a joke which someone practised [sic] upon a pestiferous colored man named Luke Johnson.  Johnson is a Republican politician of some prominence and like the white members of his party was anxious to be supported at the expense of the Government.  The object of his longings was the post office at Crawford, and after the inauguration of [President Rutherford B.] Hayes, some one sent him word that he had been appointed postmaster.  Regarding the announcement as true, Johnson called upon the postmaster and demanded possession of the office.  The demand, of course, was not complied with, and the nature of the sell was explained.  Johnson, however, found the report to chime so well with his aspirations that he refused to abandon his belief in its truth, but chose to imagine that his commission had been sent him through the mail, and that the postmaster refused to give it up.  Made angry by this thought, he began to indulge in incendiary language, and is even said to have contemplated taking possession of the office by force.  He commenced organizing the negroe [sic] for some purpose, and frequent mee[t]ings were held at night, to which his allies came armed.  Alarmed by these sinister demonstrations, the whites determined to watch Johnson and his band and find out what was going on.  While the last meeting was in session the Town Marshal and a volunteer posse went to the place and a riot ensued in which the negroes fired a volley at the whites and then fled.  In the melee the Marshal was shot, but not seriously wounded – though it was through no fault of the negroes that he was not killed.  This affair naturally caused great excitement in the country.  Johnson was arrested in Atlanta and brought back and a number of other colored men were put in jail charged with complicity in the affair.  In turn Johnson went before a United States Commissioner in Atlanta and had warrants issued against several citizens of the county charging them with a violation of what is known as the "Ku Klux Act." The white prisoners were taken to Atlanta and required to give a bond for their appearance for trial.  Of course all these things added fuel to the flames, and the result has been found in two barbarous and shocking crimes.  On the night of the 3d of April a crowd of disguised men went to the house of Alfred Turner, a colored Baptist preacher, on the plantation of Mrs. R. R. Mitchell, and took him out for the purpose of whipping him.  He got loose from them and ran off and was shot by the crowd, and shortly afterwards died.  The same crowd took out another colored man named Anthony Thurston, and whipped him with such severity that he was confined to his bed for three days.  No one seems to know who did these cruel and lawless deeds, or what motive impelled the lynchers to the commission of the crime, but there can be little doubt that Turner was murdered and Thurston beaten because of real or fancied connection with Johnson and his schemes.  No arrests were, or have been made.  When the Superior Court met last week the grand jury made the following presentment in relation to the matter:

"We cannot consistently conclude these presentments without expressing our condemnation of certain unlawful acts of violence recently committed in this county, of which we have received information, without sufficient evidence to identify the perpetrators.  We deplore such occurrences in our midst, and indignantly repel the intimations contained in certain newspaper articles of a late date, reflecting on the character of our county as an intelligent and law abiding people.  And we earnestly request every peaceful and order loving citizen to frown upon such lawlessness by whomsoever committed, and to assist the lawful authorities in bringing the perpetrators to speedy justice, thereby showing to every class of our citizens that every one SHALL BE SECURE in the exercise and enjoyment of every lawful right, without regard to social position."

A simple search on Google will give you the statistics. The Tuskegee Institute kept track of lynchings in America from 1882 - 1968. There were 581 in Mississippi, 531 in Georgia, 493 in Texas, 391 in Louisiana, 347 in Alabama, and so on. Total from all states: 4,743. That's more than one lynching and victim a week.

I feel a little like I should try to explain why I would give the horrible acts – those committed by the criminal, as well as those committed on the criminal – voice on this blog. There are no (at least to my knowledge) statistics showing the accuracy of the lynchers. How many times was an innocent person hung, riddled with bullets, and mutilated in the name of "justice?" I mean, we probably agree there are innocent people sitting in jail right now – with supposed checks and balances in place. Imagine when there were none. Shouldn't those innocent people be remembered?

Now, make no mistake, sometimes the lynching party "punished" the right person. As in, sometimes the true perpetrator was indeed apprehended – and then disposed of, often in a barbaric fashion. Even if you take the literal "eye for an eye" death penalty approach, I would not be surprised if that would have been an applicable punishment in only an infinitesimal number of cases. People were lynched for stealing, people were lynched for "insubordination," people were lynched for literally being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And let us not be cowards and leave out the racism debacle that lingers to this day. So another reason for giving voice to these past atrocities is in the same vein of "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

As a family historian, I am saddened to think (1) these revolting deeds took place, and (2) while statistics are easy to find, the names and stories of the individual victims are much harder to locate. A list of lynching victims will unfortunately never be complete. I hope that in a small way, posts such as these will serve as a memorial to those who were victims of Judge Lynch and his frightful law.