Freedom Seeker Cato, and a Bit about Joseph's Town, Georgia

Following from Thursday, 20 June 1765 Georgia Gazette (Savannah). [Note: f changed to s for easier reading.]

RUN AWAY from John Steven's plantation at Josephstown, a NEGROE MAN named CATO, formerly the property of Mr. Nicholas Lawrence. He had on when he went off a blue jacket, is a stout young fellow, and has a scar on his right arm. -- Whoever brings him to George Baillic, Esq. in Savannah, or to the said plantation at Josephstown, shall receive twenty shillings reward.

Joseph's Town was a military outpost designated as such by Oglethorpe, situated a few miles from Savannah. It was once populated by fighting and farming Scottish Highlanders who came to Georgia in 1735. Part of the original Joseph's Town became Mulberry Grove Plantation in the late 1730s. When Georgia lifted its ban on slavery in 1750, this plantation and others like it began to make rice cultivation its focus. As production expanded, so did the number of enslaved people brought on to work it.

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Mob Burns John Lee Eberhart in 1921

"These upheavals of passion that make men lose their heads are calculated to destroy the very basis of our civilization. They are born of the devil." -- T. B. Stanford, pastor of the First Street Methodist Church in Macon, Georgia about 1922, denouncing the practice of lynching.

Jackson Herald (Jefferson, GA)
24 February 1921 - pg. 1 [via Georgia Historic Newspapers]

MOB BURNS NEGRO

Oconee County Negro Taken From Clarke County Jail And Lynched Near Scene of Crime; Accused of Killing Mrs. Walter Lee

With the lynching of John Lee Eberhart in Oconee county on Wednesday night of the last week by a mob of 3,000 people, the climax was reached in one of the most brutal, most heartless and most heart rending murders ever committeed [sic] in this section of Georgia.

On Wednesday morning at 8 o'clock Mrs. Walter E. Lee, age 24, who resides about three miles from Watkinsville on the Athens road, was shot to death in the yard of her home, barely fifty feet from the public highway, of the most traveled road in that section, both loads of shot entering her back, and a few scattered shots peppering her shoulders and neck.

Mrs. Lee was at home with her eighteen-months-old baby. Her husband and her father-in-law, John Lee, who also lived at the place, were at the Cord Mill, where they are employed. They had left early in the morning for the Cord Mill.

Two negroes, who were driving down the road, it is reported, heard shots just after they had passed the house. Their team became frightened and ran wildly down the road. They did not stop to investigate, they told N. H. Cartey, who lives down the road. Mr. Cartey and his brother, G. Cartey, immediately went to the scene of the crime, and found Mrs. Lee lying dead in the front yard of her home, about twenty-five feet to the left, and in front of the house.

A bushel measure was found overturned, with oats spilled out, about five feet in front of the out-house just to the left of the main dwelling, and it is supposed that Mrs. Lee had just come out of this house with feed for the cow, and seeing her assailant had attempted to escape. Her body was found lying about twenty feet from the out-house.

A shot-gun was found lying at the left rear-corner of the main dwelling, where it had apparently been thrown in the hurry to escape. This gun was identified by John Lee, father of Walter Lee, as one that had been stolen from him last Saturday, so he said.

The sheriffs of Oconee and Clarke counties were soon on the grounds, and with a large posse of citizens, immediately began to locate the guilty criminal.

From the beginning suspicion rested on a negro, John Lee Eberhart, because of several chains of circumstantial evidence -- the fitting of the negro's shoe into the tracks which led away from the scene of the crime across the field back of the house, the fact that he was the only negro in the section who was not accounted for Wednesday, the finding of the gun, which was identified by John Lee, father of Walter Lee, as one that was stolen from him last Saturday, the statement of Eberhart's wife that her husband had gone hunting last Sunday, but that he had no gun of his own, and the general reputation of the negro in the past. Also, the fact that he did not show up at his post of duty with the International Agricultural Corporation; and the fact that he went to the Lee home a few days previous and inquired where Mr. Lee was.

The negro was located in Athens about 2.30 o'clock in the afternoon, was arrested and placed in the Clarke county jail, secured the prisoner, and lynched him.

The Athens Banner stated:
"Late in the afternoon groups of men formed in and near the court house, and early in the evening the crowd swelled to not less than three thousand.

"Sheriff Jackson caused the court house to be locked, and took every precaution to protect the prisoner. Near eight o'clock the crowd grew restless, and when a leader ordered them to enter the court house a mad rush was made, and the big plate-glass windows and doors were broken, and the crowd rushed into the building. A number of men were carrying acetylene torches, while others had crowbars, axes and other instruments with which to make their way into the jail. While the sheriff was arguing with a crowd on the third floor, a number of men rushed the elevator and entered the corridor, they proceeded to the cell, where the negro was confined, and it was only a few minutes until they had entered the cell, and, chaining the negro, they dragged him to the elevator, and rushed him downstairs, where he was hurriedly taken to a waiting automobile, which carried him to the scene of the crime.

"Milledge avenue was a mass of automobiles and vehicles of all kinds. It gave the appearance of one mammoth white way, and for over an hour this avenue was lined with automobiles rushing to the scene where the proposed burning was to take place. For over a mile on the Watkinsville road cars were parked, and people alighted and walked for over a mile, the parking point being the nearest to the scene they could reach, the road being lined with machines.

"In the presence of five thousand men, the negro was chained to a pine tree, and dry kindling wood stacked around his person. When the preliminaries had been arranged, he was asked if he had any statement to make. The negro stated that he did not commit the crime. He stated that if he had, he would confess to it. Time and again the negro was given an opportunity to confess, but he stoutly declared his innocence. The torch was applied, and as the flames enveloped his body he was asked again to make a statement, and the last words he spoke was a positive denial of his guilt. However, the evidence was strong against him, and the determination of the crowd entered into the final disposition of his body by increasing the fire, which grew in high flames above his head.

"The torch was applied about 9.30 o'clock, and shortly after the flames had covered his body, the crowd slowly and quietly dispersed, leaving the ashes and charred remains in a field across the road from the home where the scene of the crime had been enacted."

Though it would be another decade before (as Amy Wood writes in Lynching and Spectacle) "forward-looking white Southerners were compelled to adopt the position that lynching was barbaric and disgraceful, even as they continued to defend white supremacy or rail against black criminality," there was some tepid backlash to the lynching of John Lee Eberhart:

Winston-Salem Journal (North Carolina)
Sunday, 20 February 1921 - pg. 2 [via GenealogyBank]

LYNCHING MOB IS SCORED BY JUDGE

Murder of Law Worse Than the Murder of Human Being...

Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 19. -- Rewards totalling [sic] $3,000 for arrest and conviction of members of the mob that broke into jail at Athens, Ga., Wednesday night and burned John Lee Eberhardt, a negro, at the stake, were offered today by Gov. Dorsey.

...The Athens ministerial association in resolutions adopted demands an investigation of the entire affair, including responsibility of the officers having the negro in custody...

Clergy Take Action.
Demands of the ministerial association of Athens for an investigation of the storming of the jail here Wednesday night and subsequent burning of a negro near here were followed today by denunciations of the crime by David C. Barrow, chancellor of the University of Georgia and Andrew J. Cobb, formerly a justice of the State supreme court.

"This is a country where we depend for safety on law," sail [sic] Chancellor Barrow in an address to the student body. "The lawless acts of certain citizens Wednesday night must make each of us fear the future of our country." He added that information pointed to the negro's guilt of murder, but he deplored the mob's act.

After declaring that "the life of an excellent woman has been destroyed by a fiend," former Justice Cobb asserted in a signed statement that the negro burned was not shown to be guilty and asserted that "the murder of the law is a far graver offense than the murder of a human being..."

Finally, a curious note found in Frederick G. Detweiler's The Negro Press in the United States (pub. 1922):

...The Philadelphia American (February 19, 1921) has this to exhibit as evidence of the importance white people attach to the Negro newspaper:

"ATHENS, GA., Feb. 17. -- John Lee Eberhardt, your staff correspondent here, was taken from the local jail and burned at the stake...

It is believed by many here that advantage was taken of the situation to "get" Eberhardt for circulating the Philadelphia American. He had been warned on several occasions..."

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.

Virginia O. Crook and Those Her Family Enslaved - #TheyHadNames

This post was originally published at the Southern Graves blog. I placed it there initially because I had previously written about the symbolism on Virginia Osborne Crook's (d. 1859) tombstone, and an "Administrator's Sale" advertisement would be a continuation of the process of death. If interested, you can find what grapes, wheat, and a "diving" dove represent here.

The information seems to me just as suitable, maybe more so, for this space. As stated in the original, maybe this can be of help to someone researching an African American line in Harris County, Georgia pre-Emancipation.

I've read many ads for these type of sales, but not many (any?) with such detail. Each of the enslaved is listed by name and a brief description of their "specialty" of forced labor is provided.

Columbus Daily Enquirer (Georgia)
Friday, 25 November 1859 - pg. 4 [via GenealogyBank]

VALUABLE
Negroes at Administrator's Sale.
IN compliance with an order of the Court of Ordinary of Harris county, I will sell at public outcry on the first Tuesday in January next, in the town of Hamilton, all the Negroes belonging to the Estate of the late Miss Virginia Crook, to-wit:

Mumford a man about 40 years old, a blacksmith; Maria, his wife, about 38 years old, No 1 house woman and cook, washer and ironer, and 3 children, Bulger a boy 5 years old, May a girl 4, and Tom 1 year old.

Lard a man 40 years old, field hand; Ann, his wife, 35 years old, house and field hand, and their child Della, a girl 12 years old, very likely.

Caroline, field hand, about 28 years old, and her 2 children, 2 and 4 years old.

Jane, 25 years old, good house servant, sews well and her boy Alac, 10 years old.

Little Maria, 17 years old, No 1 house girl and chamber maid, has also worked in the field.

Rass 22 years old, fair carpenter, good driver and house servant, very likely.

Jacob, good sawyer and field hand, about 37 years old.

Raney, about 35 years of age, and her 8 children, Philis, Adeline, Jim, Lizzie, Cordelia, Stephen, Harry, and baby -- ranging in ages from 1 to 15, and all that are large enough field hands.

Liza, about 48 years old, an excellent old woman in the house.

These Negroes are very likely and qualities good.

Terms -- 12 months' credit with interest from date, and approved security. Sold for a division among the heirs-at-law. D. P. HILL, Adm'r.

Virginia was a daughter of Maj. Osborne Crook (1796-1851). In his will dated 15 March 1851, Mr. Crook bequeathed and devised a portion of his "real and personal" property to his children. Virginia Osborne Crook was one of the named children. So one or more of the enslaved individuals listed above could have once been part of his estate.

P.S. I have posted names of enslaved persons (infrequently, I'll admit) to the blogs I author, and have today decided to begin a Beyond Kin project. If you are a researcher that ever connects with an enslaved population, I recommend checking them out. And please help where you can.

20 Georgians Die Violently Over 1940 Labor Day Weekend

One of those newspaper articles I feel is important to share with the genealogy community.

Columbus Daily Enquirer (Georgia)
Tuesday, 3 September 1940 -- pg. 1 [via GenealogyBank]

20 GEORGIANS DIE VIOLENTLY

Drownings and Auto Wrecks Take Heavy Toll Over Week End

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The number of Georgians killed in accidents over the Labor Day week-end climbed to at least 20 as drownings and automobile wrecks took a heavy toll...

Joyce Royal, two-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Royal, who live near Millhaven, died at Sylvania of injuries received Sunday afternoon. She was fatally hurt when she apparently opened the back door of the car in which she was riding and fell out.

Joseph Daniel Pritchett, 22-year-old Thomaston youth, was fatally injured yesterday in a highway crash two miles from Griffin.

A 37-year-old negro chauffeur was killed instantly yesterday when he was impaled on an iron fence post after falling from the second-floor of a building in Atlanta. A Manchester negro was killed in a two-car crash between Raleigh and Manchester.

R. E. McDonald, 43, superintendent of industries at the federal penitentiary, drowned in the surf at St. Simon's Island, Ga., yesterday.

Drowning also took the life of Mrs. Elizabeth E. Bishop of Columbus, Ga., yesterday while she was bathing at Daytona Beach, Fla.

Joe Sherman, 30, of Augusta, was killed last night when a car in which he was riding overturned after leaving the highway seven miles east of Thompson.

Marshall P. Adams, 43-year-old Chamblee Carpenter, met death yesterday when struck by a train on the outskirts of Chamblee.

Dr. W. E. Hutto, 36, Atlanta physician, and Harvey C. Lloyd, Atlanta insurance salesman, were killed in an automobile accident Saturday night near Demopolis, Ala.

At Wrightsville, Harvey Hatcher, 30, parts manager for a Wrightsville automobile firm, was fatally injured Saturday night when his service wreck car left the highway.

Miss Irene Stancil, 19, of Eastonollee, Ga., was killed near Tocoa Saturday when a car in which she was riding locked bumpers with another and overturned.

Three negroes were killed near Midville Sunday when their car left the road.

Four other negroes were drowned Saturday afternoon when an automobile in which they were riding hit a soft shoulder of the highway and ran into Brushby creek, four miles south of Keysville.

A Bruke [sic] county negro girl was fatally injured when a car struck the mule she was riding.

(How infuriating is the practice of not dignifying "negroes" with the publishing of their given names?)

*Note: If you are interested in Mr. Harvey Hatcher (1910-1940) and the family he married into (wife was Reba ABEL), you will find a descendant report of interest here.

Body of Lynched Negro, Rufus Moncrief, Found Beside Road in 1917

Here's one where a newspaper seems to imply it's not really a lynching because it might have come at the hands of persons of his own race.

First report : Athens, Georgia, Tuesday Evening September 18, 1917

Body Found Tied to Trees and Riddled With Bullets

CLUES ARE LACKING AS PLANS LAID CAREFULLY

Note Tacked by Corpse May Lead to Identity of Perpetrators -- Investigation Now Under Way.

The body of Rufus Moncrief, a negro, was found early this morning tied to three small water oaks and riddled with bullets at the Simpton bridge, two miles from Whitehall. The negro is between 30 and 35 years old and the lynching occurred about 12 o'clock, according to those living nearby, who heard the shots.

Over his head there was tacked a piece of paper on which was written, "You have committed assault on one white girl but you will never do another one that way."

Cause a Mystery.
There is no clue as to who the lynching parties are and it is not definitely known as yet when or where the cause of the lynching originated.

Mr. N. C. Hammonds, of Whitehall, states he heard and saw two cars pass through Whitehall about 12 o'clock and shortly after at the bridge he heard the shots fired.

George Deen, an old negro, who lives on a hill about three hundred yards from the scene, stated he heard shots about midnight, all being fired practically at once, and that in a few minutes, two cars passed his house going in the direction of Watkinsville.

Several parties having seen the two cars, one of which was recognized as a Ford, it is believed that the parties who did the lynching were in these cars, but where they were from and who any of the occupants were could not be learned.

Was Not Hanged.
Arthur Barney, colored, was probably the first to see the body when passing along the road about 7 o'clock this morning. The body was only a few feet away and plainly visible from the highway. The negro was not tied up by the neck, but merely had his hands and feet tied, and then himself tied, with back to the trees.

The negro worked at Mr. R. T. Yarborough's place, located not far from the scene of [the] lynching. He had been working there for four years, and Mrs. Yarborough stated so far as they knew the negro was faithful and reliable -- that he had always been so with them.

Many Flocked to Scene.
As soon as the news of the lynching reached Athens this morning, many cars began visiting the scene and a steady stream of traffic was on the road. It is the first lynching in Oconee county in many years and the affair has created a sensation, especially in view of the several mysteries of the case. It was impossible to get the names of any connected with the case except that of the victim.

Tracks Well Covered.
It seemed the parties committing the act had everything carefully planned, as no clues are known this afternoon. However, the coroner's inquest may throw some light on the situation. Sheriff Clarence Maxey took charge of the note that was found, early this morning.

The negroes of the community cling around the scene as if it has a fascination for them. It is said many have been there since early this morning staring at the body as though they were hypnotized. They talk but little.

Second report : Columbia Record (South Carolina) - Thursday, 20 September 1917

NEGRO THOUGHT LYNCHED, KILLED BY OWN RACE

(By Associated Press.)
Athens, Ga., Sept. 20. -- At Watkinsville the coroner's jury in the case of Rufus Moncrief, the negro whose body was found beside the road riddled with bullets, seems to have unearthed a murder, which crime it was attempted to hide behind Ku Klux methods.

The negro, it is practically established, was killed by others of his race after a big gambling meet.

The jury is still in session and some actual witnesses and participants are said to be known.

According to the 1900 Oconee County, Georgia Federal census, Rufus was born about October 1885. His father (Edd) was a carpenter, and his mother (Ida) had -- over the course of her 23-year marriage -- given birth to ten children. Only five were living.

An Oconee County marriage record suggests Rufus (colored) married Mat/Mot Barrett (colored) on 3 May 1908. The couple -- both noted as white -- was later found in Watkinsville for the 1910 census, though they are erroneously listed as father and daughter. No children were present.


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.

Rope Around Neck of Ernest Glenwood, of Dooly County (1919)

One where the local newspaper tries to claim he was only "given a sound thrashing."

Not buying it.

Macon Telegraph (Georgia)
Saturday, 4 October 1919 - pg. 3 [via GenealogyBank]

FIND LOST NEGRO IN RIVER

Rope Around Neck of Ernest Glenwood, of Dooly County.
AMERICUS, Oct. 3. -- Mystery surrounding the disappearance of Ernest Glenwood, a negro, living near Lily, in Dooly county, was cleared up yesterday when his body was found in the Flint river and recovered by Tom Shirer, a white fisherman. Glenwood disappeared September 22, when, taken in custody by three masked men, and carried into the woods at night. John Graham, another negro, was with Glenwood when he was seized and carried off, but Graham was not molested.

It was charged that Glenwood had been circulating improper propaganda among Dooly county negroes, and it is believed he was given a sound thrashing by citizens who seized him and afterward released. How he came to meet death in the river is a mystery, although when found, the body had a rope about the neck, while a stout cord was tied around the right wrist. Several other negroes implicated in the circulation of the objectionable propaganda, were first whipped and then ordered to leave the county, since which time none of them have been heard from.

W. Fitzhugh Brundage wrote about this incident in Lynching in the New South (1993), citing a 4 October 1919 Atlanta Constitution (Georgia) news article:

Blacks who showed insufficient subservience to racial protocol in myriad ways suffered at the hands of small mobs...In September 1919, a mob lynched Ernest Glenwood, a farmhand in Dooly County, Georgia, for circulating "propaganda." The black man, who had been trying to organize black workers to refuse to work for 60 cents a day, was overpowered by three white men. They tied his arms together, forced him to jump into a river, and then riddled his body with bullets as he struggled for air.

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 supposed criminal, as well as those committed on the supposed 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.

Another Lynching in Georgia: John Ware was Strung Up in 1904 Franklin County

According to MonroeWorkToday, the lynching of John Ware 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. Following is what Mr. Brundage wrote regarding labor disputes between the races and the lynching of John Ware specifically:

Labor disputes between blacks and whites, which routinely bred frustration, suspicion, and anger on both sides of the color line, were sometimes fought out to bloody conclusions, thus weaving a thread of violence into southern labor relations...Because a defense of white authority, and conversely a challenge to that authority, were never far beneath the surface of any labor dispute involving whites and blacks, more than just economic motives could be at work in both the murder of a white planter by a tenant and the subsequent lynching of the tenant.

The black man who openly challenged his white employer was uncommon; had he not been, the racial hierarchy and the system of labor at its foundation would have been jeopardized. But some did challenge...When John Ware, a tenant farmer in Franklin County, Georgia, refused to sell his cotton to the merchant of his landlord's choice in 1904, the two men began to fight and the black man killed the planter...[T]he black man's stand led to his swift execution by a mob. These lynchings drove home to blacks the peril of challenging their employers; as one white planter curtly explained, "when [an African American] gets ideas, the best thing to do is to get him under ground as quick as possible."

Newspaper Account of the Lynching of John Ware

19 September 1904 Idaho Statesman

Charlotte Observer (North Carolina)
19 September 1904 - pg. 1 [via GenealogyBank]

ANOTHER LYNCHING IN GEORGIA.

John Ware Strung Up in Franklin County for Fatally Shooting a Young White Man, C. Y. Daniel.
Atlanta, Sept. 18. -- A special to The Constitution from Royston, Ga., says:

Judge Lynch held court in Franklin county to-day, and as a result the riddred [sic] body of John Ware, a negro, is swinging from the limb of a tree between here and Carnesville. Ware was done to death by a mob for fatally shooting C. Y. Daniel, a son of George Daniel, of Danielsville, to-day. Young Daniel and the negro had some words over a trivial matter. It is said the negro, becoming greatly enraged and saying that no white man should run over him, drew a pistol and shot Daniel, the bullet inflicting a wound that will prove fatal.

The news of the shooting quickly spread and a crowd began gathering, many leaving church to join in the chase for the negro. The negro was captured early in the afternoon and while being hurried to Carnesville by the sheriff, was overtaken by the mob. The negro was taken from the sheriff and deputies, seated on a horse, a noose fitted about his neck and the other end tied to a limb. The horse was then struck a sharp blow and dashed away, leaving the negro swinging to the limb. Half a hundred shots rang out and the swaying body was riddled. The corpse was left hanging by the mob.

Per a short article in the 20 September 1904 Montgomery Advertiser (Alabama), Georgia's Governor Joseph M. Terrell took "a firm stand against lynching by offering a reward of $250 each for the arrest and conviction of any of the men who took part in the lynching of John Ware, the negro hanged by a mob in Franklin County..."

It Didn't Work.

Ocala Banner (Florida)
14 October 1904 [via GenealogyBank]

LYNCHERS NOT INDICTED.

Franklin County Jury Could Find No Evidence.
Atlanta, Oct. 13. -- The presentments of the Franklin county grand jury contain an extensive report of the investigation into the lynching of the negro John Ware, made with the view of indicting the lynchers, as recommended by Judge Russell in his charge to the grand jury.

Solicitor C. H. Band, of the western circuit, took a very active part in the investigations and in cross examining the witnesses summoned to appear before the grand jury. His best efforts, however, and those of the members of the grand jury, were unavailing since no evidence was adduced on which to issue an indictment.

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.