The story of the lynchings of Joe Jordan and James Harvey begins in the following manner, as told by Fitzhugh Brundage in Lynching in the New South:
During the summer of 1921, Harvey and Jordan had hiked throughout the Deep South before stopping to work for a few months in Wayne County in south Georgia. The young men, one of whom was a war veteran, quickly became ensnared by the worst forms of coercive practices of southern agriculture and were unable to compel their white employer to pay them…[A]fter the men had demanded their wages, their employer's wife brought charges against them for attacking and raping her.
Three days later, while Jordan and Harvey sat in a Savannah jail – without defense counsel who cared one way or the other – the two were found guilty and sentenced to death.
The publicity of the case even prompted some prominent white women of Wayne County to get involved. In May of 1922, about eight months after the original conviction, a local judge was petitioned to grant Jordan and Harvey a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. The petition was denied, so the NAACP played the last card they had by petitioning the governor of Georgia, Thomas W. Hardwick, for executive clemency. On the very date of their scheduled execution, Jordan and Harvey were granted a reprieve.
Savannah Tribune (Georgia)
Thursday, 13 July 1922 -- pg. 1 [via GenealogyBank]
N.A.A.C.P. PROTESTS LYNCHINGS
Governor Called Upon To Institute Action Against Sheriff
New York, July 7, – How two young colored boys, James Harvey and Joe Jordan, who were accused of attempted criminal assault while on a hiking tour through Georgia, were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, and then lynched after Governor Thomas W. Hardwick had granted a respite of thirty days, was revealed here today when the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People made a public letter to Governor Hardwick. The letter, signed by James Weldon Johnson, secretary, recites the facts given above, pointing that both of the youths came from respectable families, and that the Association had investigated their case, secured convincing proof of their innocence, employed counsel, which counsel had presented the facts to the governor which gave him sufficient ground to delay their execution set for June 30. A mob, determined not to be cheated of their prey, had seized the boys and lynched them north of Lane's Bridge, Georgia, on July 1.
The association's letter calls upon the governor to institute action against Deputy Sheriff J. R. Tyre who allowed the prisoners to be taken from him as he was carrying them from Jesup to Savannah for safe-keeping, and against Tyre and his immediate superiors for furnishing so inadequate protection to the men in view of the feeling against them. It also emphasizes the fact that evidences against the men must have been indeed slight if he as governor had seen fit to grant the requested respite. This action was particularly urged in view of Governor Hardwick's recent public declaration that there would be no mob rule in Georgia while he was governor.
Governor Hardwick bowed to pressure, and charges of murder were brought against five individuals after a probe which lasted more than two months: L. W. Rhoden, chief of police of Jesup; J. R. Tyre, deputy sheriff of Jesup and Brunswick; Bob L. Price, Wayne County; Dock Rhoden, Wayne County; and Carl Stuart, Telfair County.
Five months later, all were acquitted – in spite of some pretty damning evidence. But it was obvious no juror ever intended to truly weigh the facts and come to a thoughtful verdict.
Macon Telegraph (Georgia)
Saturday, 24 February 1923 -- pg. 1 [via GenealogyBank]
FIVE ARE ACQUITTED IN HINESVILLE LYNCHING CASE
JURORS ARE OUT FOR 10 MINUTES BEFORE VERDICT
…WOMAN FEATURE WITNESS
Negroes' Death Favored By Sheriff, Mrs. Magett Says
HINESVILLE, Ga., Feb. 22. – A verdict of not guilty was returned by a jury here late this afternoon in the cases of James R. Tyre, Carl Stewart, Bob Price, Dock Rhoden and Chief of Police L. W. Rhoden, of Jesup, charged with murder in connection with the lynching of two negroes, Joe Jordan and James Harvey, on June 30, of last year.
…[F]our defendants took the witness stand in their own defense, that being the only testimony offered by the defense.
The verdict was reached ten minutes after the jury retired, apparently being decided on the first ballot…
Four defendants made practically the same statement. Deputy Sheriff Tyre, the first to testify, told of leaving Jesup with the two negroes, and starting on his trip to Savannah, via automobile. At the fork of "some road," he said, they were stopped by an automobile, parked across the road, with the lights burning.
One Acts as Spokesman
"One made did all the talking," Sheriff Tyre said. "We were told to hand over the two negroes, go on back to Jesup, and keep our mouths shut."We started back to Jesup after they took the negroes, and lost our way. Then we ran out of gasoline. I paid a negro to get us some gas and finally, we reached Hinesville. I then called up Jesup and reported the affair."
…Sensational testimony by Mrs. Vera Magett, juvenile probation officer of Jesup, and Morrison Thomas, also of Jesup, in which Sheriff Tyre was directly involved, featured the hearing of state witnesses.
Claims Lynching Favored
"I have been a target for those two negroes long enough," Sheriff Tyre was quoted as saying, by Mrs. Magett. "If the people want to lynch them," she continued, "let them come to the jail and get 'em."Mrs. Magett further quoted the sheriff as praising the lynching if another respite was granted the two negroes by Governor Hardwick.
Morris Thomas told of his interview with Carl Stewart on the night of the lynching. He said he met Stewart and Price at the railroad station and that he jokingly asked them where they were going. They replied seriously, he said, that "We are going to a lynching," he quoted Stewart. The witness stated that there were numerous rumors heard about Jesup that night predicting a lynching and fixing the time at 10 o'clock.
The witness was later recalled to tell of his interview with Sheriff Tyre at the postoffice [sic] on the day following the lynching. Thomas said Tyre received a package, postmarked from Savannah, which he asked him (Thomas) to open. This, the witness said, he did, and discovered that the package contained a revolver. Sheriff Tyre then explained to him that the revolver was taken from him by the men which met them between Hinesville and Savannah, and lynched the two negroes…
The research of Mr. Brundage adds the following regarding the NAACP's involvement after the lynchings:
Unwilling to let the case drop, members of the Savannah branch of the NAACP traveled to the site of the lynching, saw to it that Jordan and Harvey were properly buried, and began gathering evidence against the lynchers. The investigations left little doubt that the deputy sheriff and policemen who had been transporting the prisoners were complicitous in the event. Numerous local witnesses claimed that the two officers had waited for hours at the site of the lynching until the mob arrived and "seized" Harvey and Jordan.
According to MonroeWorkToday, the lynchings of Joe Jordan and James Harvey are also referenced in A Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882-1930.
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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