The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United StatesWells-Barnett, Ida B.
History
The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States
Wells-Barnett, Ida B.
African Americans -- History -- 1877-1964; Lynching -- United States; Lynching -- United States -- Statistics
During the search for Julian on Saturday one branch of the posse visited
the house of a Negro family in the neighborhood of Camp Parapet, and
failing to find the object of their search, tried to induce John Willis,
a young Negro, to disclose the whereabouts of Julian. He refused to do
so, or could not do so, and was kicked to death by the gang.
AN INDIANA CASE
Almost equal to the ferocity of the mob which killed the three brothers,
Julian and the unoffending, John Willis, because of the murder of Judge
Estopinal, was the action of a mob near Vincennes, Ind. In this case a
wealthy colored man, named Allen Butler, who was well known in the
community, and enjoyed the confidence and respect of the entire country,
was made the victim of a mob and hung because his son had become unduly
intimate with a white girl who was a servant around his house. There was
no pretense that the facts were otherwise than as here stated. The woman
lived at Butler's house as a servant, and she and Butler's son fell in
love with each other, and later it was found that the girl was in a
delicate condition. It was claimed, but with how much truth no one has
ever been able to tell, that the father had procured an abortion, or
himself had operated on the girl, and that she had left the house to go
back to her home. It was never claimed that the father was in any way
responsible for the action of his son, but the authorities procured the
arrest of both father and son, and at the preliminary examination the
father gave bail to appear before the Grand Jury when it should convene.
On the same night, however, the mob took the matter in hand and with the
intention of hanging the son. It assembled near Sumner, while the boy, who
had been unable to give bail, was lodged in jail at Lawrenceville. As it
was impossible to reach Lawrenceville and hang the son, the leaders of the
mob concluded they would go to Butler's house and hang him. Butler was
found at his home, taken out by the mob and hung to a tree. This was in
the lawabiding state of Indiana, which furnished the United States its
last president and which claims all the honor, pride and glory of northern
civilization. None of the leaders of the mob were apprehended, and no
steps whatever were taken to bring the murderers to justice.
KILLED FOR HIS STEPFATHER'S CRIME
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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