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.
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"
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.
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