Anatomy of a Lynching by James R. McGovern

Author:James R. McGovern
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LSU Press
Published: 1982-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

This whole thing has had too much notoriety already. The best thing to do is to drop the whole matter and forget it. But there’s one thing you ought to know. The men who lynched that negro [Neal] ain’t the men who tried to take one of my prisoners [Gammons] last night. That mob last night was led by a bunch of——rascals, and some of them were from Alabama.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not saying all the leaders were from Alabama, but there were some Alabamians among the ringleaders. I like Alabama because it is a sister state. I like Alabamians too. Most of them are all right. But if any of them are figurin’ on coming down here in my county and leading a mob against my jail or my deputies, they better stay up there on the other side of the state line.47

After these remarks the sheriff demonstrated his confidence that order had been restored. He dismissed the two National Guardsmen Colonel Coombs had assigned to protect him against threats on his life for protecting Gammons with, “Wait at my office, boys,” turned his back on reporters, glared at a photographer from a national daily, and drove off in his car.

Others were more shaken by the events and more appreciative of the stabilizing influence of the Guard. A prominent physician dispatched a letter to Governor Sholtz the day after the Guard arrived which read in part:

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