Lynch Law in Georgia. 
BY 
IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT 

A Six-Weeks' Record in the Center of Southern Civilization, As Faithfully
Chronicled by the "Atlanta Journal" and the "Atlanta Constitution." 
ALSO THE FULL REPORT OF LOUIS P. LE VIN, 
The Chicago Detective Sent to Investigate the Burning of Samuel Hose, the
Torture and Hanging of Elijah Strickland, the Colored Preacher, and the
Lynching of Nine Men for Alleged arson. 
This Pamphlet is Circulated by Chicago Colored Citizens. 
2939 Princeton Avenue, Chicago. 
{Begin handwritten} 1899 {End handwritten} 
CONSIDER THE FACTS. 
During six weeks of the months of March and April just past, twelve colored
men were lynched in Georgia, the reign of outlawry culminating in the torture
and hanging of the colored preacher, Elijah Strickland, and the burning alive
of Samuel Wilkes, alias Hose, Sunday, April 23, 1899.  The real purpose of
these savage demonstrations is to teach the Negro that in the South he has no
rights that the law will enforce. Samuel Hose was burned to teach the Negroes
that no matter what a white man does to them, they must not resist. Hose, a
servant, had killed Cranford, his employer. An example must be made.  
Ordinary punishment was deemed inadequate. This Negro must be burned alive.
To make the burning a certainty the charge of outrage was invented, and added
to the charge of murder. The daily press offered reward for the capture of
Hose and then openly incited the people to burn him as soon as caught. The
mob carried out the plan in every savage detail.  
Of the twelve men lynched during that reign of unspeakable barbarism, only
one was even charged with an assault upon a woman. Yet Southern apologists
justify their savagery on the ground that Negroes are lynched only because of
their crimes against women. 
The Southern press champions burning men alive, and says, "Consider the
facts." The colored people join issue and also say,, "Consider the fact." The
colored people of Chicago employed a detective to go to Georgia, and his
report in this pamphlet gives the facts. We give here the details of the
lynching as they were reported in the Southern papers, then follows the
report of the true facts as to the cause of the lynchings, as learned by the
investigation. We submit all to the sober judgment of the Nation, confident
that, in this cause, as well as all others, "Truth is mighty and will
prevail." 

IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT. 
2939 Princeton Avenue, Chicago, June 20, 1899. 

{Begin page no. 1}
NINE MEN LYNCHED ON SUSPICION. 
In dealing with all vexed questions, the chief aim of every honest inquirer
should be to ascertain the facts. 
No good purpose is subserved either by concealment on the one hand or
exaggeration on the other. "The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth," is the only sure foundation for just judgment. 
The purpose of this pamphlet is to give the public the facts, in the belief
that there is still a sense of justice in the American people, and that it
will yet assert itself in condemnation of outlawry and in defense of
oppressed and persecuted humanity.  In this firm belief the following pages
will describe the lynching of nine colored men, who were arrested near
Palmetto, Georgia, about the middle of March, upon suspicion that they were
implicated in the burning of the three houses in February preceding. 
The nine suspects were not criminals, they were hard-working, law-abiding
citizens, men of families. They had assaulted no woman, and, after the lapse
of nearly a month, it could not be claimed that the fury of an insane mob
made their butchery excusable. They were in the custody of law, unarmed,
chained together and helpless, awaiting their trial. They had no money to
employ learned counsel to invoke the aid of technicalities to defeat justice.
They were in custody of a white Sheriff, to beprosecuted by a white State's
Attorney, to be tried before a white judge, and by a white jury. Surely the
guilty had no chance to escape. 
Still they were lynched. That the awful story of their slaughter may not be
considered overdrawn, the following description is taken from the columns of
the Atlanta Journal, as it was written by Royal Daniel, a staff
correspondent. The story of the lynching thus told is as follows: 
Palmetto. Ga., March 16.--A mob of more than 100 desperate men, armed with
Winchesters and shotguns and pistols and wearing masks, rode into Palmetto at
1 o'clock this morning and shot to death four Negro prisoners, desperately
wounded another and with deliberate aim fired at four others, wounding two,
believing the entire nine had been killed. 

{Begin page no. 2}
The boldness of the mob and the desperateness with which the murder was
contemplated and executed, has torn the little town with excitement and
anxiety. 
All business has been suspended, and the town is under military patrol, and
every male inhabitant is armed to the teeth, in anticipation of an outbreak
which is expected to-night. Last night nine Negroes were arrested and placed
in the warehouse near the depot. The Negroes were charged with the burning of
the two business blocks here in February. 
At 1 o'clock this morning the mob dashed into town while the people slept. 
They rushed to the warehouse in which the nine Negroes were guarded by six
white men. 
The door was burst open and the guards were ordered to hold up their hands. 
Then the mob fired two volleys into the line of trembling, wretched and
pleading prisoners, and to make sure of their work, placed pistols in the
dying men's faces and emptied the chambers. 
Citizens who were aroused by the shooting and ran out to investigate the
cause were driven to their homes at the point of guns and pistols and then
the mob mounted their horses and dashed out of town, back into 
the woods and home again. None of the mob was recognized, as their faces were
completely concealed by masks. The men did their work orderly and coolly and
exhibited a determination seldom equaled under similar circumstances. 
The nine Negroes were tied with ropes and were helpless. 
The guard was held at the muzzle of guns and threatened with death if a man
moved. 
Then the firing was deliberately done, volley by volley. 
The Negroes now dead are: Tip Hudson, Bud Cotton, Ed Wynn, Henry Bingham. 
Fatally shot and now dying: John Bigby. 
Shot but will recover: John Jameson. 
Arm broken: George Tatum. 
Escaped without injury: Ison Brown, Clem Watts. 
The men who were guarding the Negroes are well know and prominent citizens of
Palmetto, and were sworn in only yesterday as a special guard for the night. 
The commitment trial of the Negroes was set for 9 o'clock this morning. 
Bud Cotton, who was killed, had confessed to the burning of the stores in
Palmetto, and had implicated all the others who had been arrested. 

{Begin page no. 3}
The military having been sent by Governor Candler arrived at 10:40 o'clock
this morning on a special train under command of Colonel John S. Candler. 
The Negro population of Palmetto has fled from town and it is believed the
Negroes are now congregating on the outskirts and will make an assault upon
the town to-night. 
The place is in the wildest excitement and every citizen is armed, expecting
an outbreak as soon as night shall fall. 
The Negroes left the town in droves early this morning, weeping and screaming
and dogged and revengeful. Business has been entirely suspended and Palmetto,
formerly a peaceful agricultural village, is running riot with intense
excitement and anxiety is expressed by every one. 
The lives and property of citizens will be protected at any cost, and the
white people, while condemning the 
act of lawlessness of the mob, are determined to meet any attempt the Negroes
may make for revenge. 
It was just past the hour of midnight. The guards were sleepy and tired of
the weary watch and the little city 
of Palmetto was sound asleep, with nothing to disturb the midnight hour or to
interrupt the crime that was 
about to be committed. 
Without the slightest noise the mob of lynchers approached the door to the
warehouse. Not a false step was 
made, not a dead leaf was trod upon and not even the creaking of a shoe or
the clearing of a throat broke the 
stillness. 
With a noise that shook the buildings and threw every man to his feet the big
fireproof door was suddenly 
struck as if with the force of a battering ram. 
The guards sprang to their guns and the Negroes screamed for mercy. 
But there were rifles, shotguns and pistols everywhere. 
The little anteroom was packed full of armed men in an instant. The men
seemed to come up through the 
floor and through the walls, so rapidly did they fill the room. And still
others poured in at the door, and 
when the room was filled so that not another man could enter, the door was
slammed to with awful noise 
and force. 
The Negroes were screaming at the top of their voices. 
"Hands up and don't move; if you move a foot or turn your hands I will blow
your damned brains out," 
came the stern and rigid command from a man of small, thick stature, his face
wholly concealed by a mask of 
white cloth and holding in his hands a couple of dangerous horse pistols. 
The guards threw their hands up above their heads, all except one guard,
James Hendricks, who lifted only 
one hand, while the other firmly grasped his revolver. 

{Begin page no. 4}
"I'll blow hell out of you in a minute if you don't put that hand up," came
the warning, and the hand 
followed the other one. 
The command was then given to move, and move quick. 
"You guards, move, and move quick, if you don't want to get your brains blown
out," cried the low man, 
who was the mob's leader. 
The guards were then placed in line, six of them, and marched around the room
and then marched to the 
front of the room, near the door through which the mob had entered. 
They were placed in line against the front wall of the building and ordered
not to move at the cost of their 
lives. 
They did not speak, neither did they move, and not a word was said by the
guard to the mob. 
The men then walked around where they could get a good look at the trembling,
pleading, terror-stricken 
Negroes, begging for life and declaring that they were innocent. 
There was a moment's pause of deliberation. The Negroes thought it meant that
the assassins hesitated in 
their bloody deed, but the men hesitated only because they wanted deliberate
action and a clear range for 
their bullets. 
The Negroes, helpless, tied together with ropes, begged for mercy, for they
saw the cold gun barrels, the angry 
and determined faces of the men, and they knew it meant death--instant death
to them. 
"Oh, God, have mercy!" cried one of the men in his agony. "Oh, give me a
minute to live." 
The cry for mercy and the prayer for life brought an oath from the leader and
derisive laughter from the 
mob. 
"Stand up in a line," said the man in command. "Stand up and we will see if
we can't kill you out; if we 
can't, we'll turn out." 
The Negroes faltered. 
"Burn the devils," came a suggestion from the crowd. 
"No, we'll shoot 'em like dogs," said the mob's leader. 
"Stand up, every one of you and get up quick and march to the end of the
room." 
The Negroes slowly stood up. The mob came closer and pressed about the stacks
of furniture that had been 
stored in the room. 
The leader asked if everybody's gun was loaded and the men answered in the
affirmative. 
The Negroes pleaded and prayed for mercy. 
They stood, trembling wretches, jerking at the long ropes that held them by
the waist and about the wrists. 

{Begin page no. 5}
"Oh, give me a minute longer!" implored Bud Cotton. 
"My men, are you ready?" asked the captain, still cool and composed and
fearfully determined to execute the 
bloodiest deed that has ever stained Campbell County. 
"Ready," came the unanimous response. 
"One, two, three--fire!" was the command, given orderly, but hurriedly. 
Every man in the room, and the number is estimated at from seventy-five to
one hundred and fifty, fired 
point blank at the line of trembling and terror-stricken bound wretches. 
The volley came as the fire from a gatling gun. 
It filled the warehouse with smoke and flame and death and brought a wail of
horror that chilled the 
helpless guard. 
The volley awakened the peaceful town of Palmetto and from every house the
excited citizens ran. 
"Load and fire again," shouted the captain of the mob, and his voice was
heard above the screaming and 
death cries of the wounded and dead. 
The men rapidly loaded their guns, then fired at the given command. 
"Now, before you leave, load and get ready for trouble," came the captain's
order, and then men loaded their 
guns and got ready to leave the bloody room. 
The guard was not relieved, however, until every man had left the building
and all was safe for their hasty 
flight. 
"I wonder if they are all dead," said one of the mob, when the order was
given to leave the building. 
"I reckon so," said one of the mob. 
"But we had better see," said the captain coolly and assuming an air of
business. 
A detail of probably a half dozen men, probably a dozen and maybe more, the
guard does not remember just 
how many, was sent forward into the blood and brains and into the twisting
mass of dying men to examine 
if all were dead. They were given orders to finish those who were not dead. 
The detail rushed forward. 
The men jerked the fallen, twisting and writhing and bleeding bodies about. 
The first man they reached was not dead. He was still groaning, and the
breath was coming in great, quick 
gasps. 
A pistol was placed at his breast and every chamber was emptied. 
"He's dead now," laughed one of the crowd. 
Other men, wounded, bleeding, moaning and begging, were caught, turned over
and pistols emptied into 
their bodies. 

{Begin page no. 6}
But the shooting had made so much noise that the mob concluded its safety lay
in flight. 
The Negroes were quickly examined and with a parting shot and a volley of
oaths of warning the mob left 
the warehouse and rushed to their horses. 
The men ran from the warehouse to the little spot in the center of the town,
where horses are tied by 
countrymen and merchants. 
They mounted quickly and began their ride for life. 
With a sweeping of falling and echoing hoofs the cavalry-men dashed down the
principal street at breakneck 
speed. 
Mr. Henry Beckman, who lives a few hundred yards beyond the scene of the
murders, heard the firing and 
ran from his house to the railroad tracks. 
The horsemen, using the lash and urging their horses to their highest speed,
dashed into view. 
"Hello," said Beckman. "What does all that firing mean?" 
Beckman was answered with an oath and told to get into his hole as quickly as
possible. "If you don't, we'll 
kill you on the spot," was the warning. 
Beckman flew for life, ran through the yard and entered the house as quickly
as possible. 
Dr. Hal L. Johnson saw a crowd of men on foot running down the sidewalk. 
He hailed them, but there was no response. 
"There must have been more than one hundred men on horses," said Mr. Beckman
this morning, in telling 
the Journal of his wild night experience with the mob. 
When the mob left, the guards, who had been held against the warehouse wall
at the points of guns and 
pistols, turned their faces toward the scene of carnage and death. 
The furniture in the room had been splintered and wrecked with bullets and
the contortions of the Negroes. 
On the floor, near the center of the room, were two Negroes, still tied with
the rope, locked in each other's 
embrace. Near their bodies streams of blood were dyeing red the floor and
spreading out in pools. 
Just beyond were two more bodies. These Negroes were dead, too. 
Near the fireplace was John Bigby, twisting and writhing in his agony. Blood
was spouting from a number of 
wounds. 
Under the beds and tables and piles of furniture were other bodies, every
prisoner apparently dead, except 
Bigby, who was fast regaining consciousness. 
The guards open the door cautiously, but there was no sign of the mob, save
the echoing footfalls on the 
country road. 

{Begin page no. 7}
CHAPTER II. 
TORTURED AND BURNED ALIVE. 
The burning of Samuel Hose, or, to give his right name, Samuel Wilkes, gave
to the United States the 
distinction of having burned alive seven human beings during the past ten
years. The details of this deed of 
unspeakable barbarism have shocked the civilized world, for it is conceded
universally that no other nation 
on earth, civilized or savage, has put to death any human being with such
atrocious cruelty as that inflicted 
upon Samuel Hose by the Christian white people of Georgia. 
The charge is generally made that lynch law is condemned by the best white
people of the South, and that 
lynching is the work of the lowest and lawless class. Those who seek the
truth know the fact to be, that all 
classes are equally guilty, for what the one class does the other encourages,
excuses and condones. 
This was clearly shown in the burning of Hose. This awful deed was suggested,
encouraged and made 
possible by the daily press of Atlanta, Georgia, until the burning actually
occurred, and then it immediately 
condoned the burning by a hysterical plea to "consider the facts." 
Samuel Hose killed Alfred Cranford Wednesday afternoon, April 12, 1899, in a
dispute over the wages due 
Hose. The dispatch which announced the killing of Cranford stated that Hose
had assaulted Mrs. Cranford 
and that bloodhounds had been put on his track. 
The next day the Atlanta Constitution, in glaring double headlines, predicted
a lynching and suggested 
burning at the stake. This it repeated in the body of the dispatch in the
following language: 
"When Hose is caught he will either be lynched and his body riddled with
bullets or he will be burned at the 
stake." And further in the same issue the Constitution suggests torture in
these words: "There have been 
whisperings of burning at the stake and of torturing the fellow 

{Begin page no. 8}
low, and so great is the excitement, and so high the indignation, that this
is among the possibilities." 
In the issue of the 15th, in another double-column display heading, the
Constitution announces: "Negro 
will probably be burned," and in the body of the dispatch burning and torture
is confidently predicted in 
these words: 
"Several modes of death have been suggested for him, but it seems to be the
universal opinion that he will 
be burned at the stake and probably tortured before burned." 
The next day, April 16th, the double-column head still does its inflammatory
work. Never a word for law 
and order, but daily encouragement for burning. The headlines read:
"Excitement still continues intense, 
and it is openly declared that if Sam Hose is brought in alive he will be
burned," and in the dispatch it is said: 
"The residents have shown no disposition to abandon the search in the
immediate neighborhood of 
Palmetto; their ardor has in no degree cooled, and if Sam Hose is brought
here by his captors he will be 
publicly burned at the stake as an example to members of his race who are
said to have been causing the 
residents of this vicinity trouble for some time." 
On the 19th the Constitution assures the public that interest in the pursuit
of Hose does not lag, and in proof 
of the zeal of the pursuers said: 
"'If Hose is on earth I'll never rest easy until he's caught and burned
alive. And that's the way all of us feel,' 
said one of them last night." 
Clark Howell, editor, and W. A. Hemphill, business manager, of the
Constitution, had offered through their 
paper a reward of five hundred dollars for the arrest of the fugitive. This
reward, together with the persistent 
suggestion that the Negro be burned as soon as caught, make it plain as day
that the purpose to burn Hose at 
the stake was formed by the leading citizens of Georgia. The Constitution
offered the reward to capture him, 
and then day after day suggested and predicted that he be burned when caught.
The Chicago anarchists where 
hanged, not because they threw the bomb, but because they incited to that act
the unknown man who did 
throw it. Pity that the same law cannot be carried into force in Georgia! 

{Begin page no. 9}
Hose was caught Saturday night, April 23, and let the Constitution tell the
story of his torture and death. 
>From the issue of April 24th the following account is condensed: 
Newman, Ga., April 23.--(Special.)--Sam Hose, the Negro murderer of Alfred
Cranford and the assailant of 
Cranford's wife, was burned at the stake one mile and a quarter from this
place this afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. 
Fully 2,000 people surrounded the small sapling to which he was fastened and
watched the flames eat away 
his flesh, saw his body mutilated by knives and witnessed the contortions of
his body in his extreme agony. 
Such suffering has seldom been witnessed, and through it all the Negro
uttered hardly a cry. During the 
contortions of his body several blood vessels bursted. The spot selected was
an ideal one for such an affair, 
and the stake was in full view of those who stood about and with unfeigned
satisfaction saw the Negro meet 
his death and saw him tortured before the flames killed him. 
A few smoldering ashes scattered about the place, a blackened stake, are all
that is left to tell the story. Not 
even the bones of the Negro were left in the place, but were eagerly snatched
by a crowd of people drawn 
here from all directions, who almost fought over the burning body of the man,
carving it with knives and 
seeking souvenirs of the occurrence. 
Preparations for the execution were not necessarily elaborate, and it
required only a few minutes to arrange 
to make Sam Hose pay the penalty of his crime. To the sapling Sam Hose was
tied, and he watched the cool, 
determined men who went about arranging to burn him. 
First he was made to remove his clothing, and when the flames began to eat
into his body it was almost 
nude. Before the fire was lighted his left ear was severed from his body.
Then his right ear was cut away. 
During this proceeding he uttered not a groan. Other portions of his body
were mutilated by the knives of 
those who gathered about him, but he was not wounded to such an extent that
he was not fully conscious 
and could feel the excruciating pain. Oil was poured over the wood that was
placed about him and this was 
ignited. 
The scene that followed is one that never will be forgotten by those who saw
it, and while Sam Hose writhed 
and performed contortions in his agony, many of those present turned away
from the sickening sight, and 
others could hardly look at it. Not a sound but the crackling of the flames
broke the stillness of the place, and 
the situation grew more sickening as it proceeded. 

{Begin page no. 10}
The stake bent under the strains of the Negro in his agony and his sufferings
cannot be described, although 
he uttered not a sound. After his ears had been cut off he was asked about
the crime, and then it was he 
made a full confession. At one juncture, before the flames had begun to get
in their work well, the fastenings 
that held him to the stake broke and he fell forward partially out of the
fire. 
He writhed in agony and his sufferings can be imagined when it is said that
several blood vessels burst 
during the contortions of his body. When he fell from the stake he was kicked
back and the flames renewed. 
Then it was that the flames consumed his body and in a few minutes only a few
bones and a small part of 
the body was all that was left of Sam Hose. 
One of the most sickening sights of the day was the eagerness with which the
people grabbed after souvenirs, 
and they almost fought over the ashes of the dead criminal. Large pieces of
his flesh were carried away, and 
persons were seen walking through the streets carrying bones in their hands. 
When all the larger bones, together with the flesh, had been carried away by
the early comers, others scraped 
in the ashes, and for a great length of time a crowd was about the place
scraping in the ashes. Not even the 
stake to which the Negro was tied when burned was left, but it was promptly
chopped down and carried 
away as the largest souvenir of the burning. 
CHAPTER III. 
ELIJAH STRICKLAND, A COLORED PREACHER, LYNCHED. 
Sunday night, April 23d, a mob seized a well-known colored preacher, Elijah
Strickland, and, after savage 
torture, slowly strangled him to death. The following account of the lynching
is taken from the Atlanta 
Constitution: 
Palmetto. Ga., April 24.--(Special.)--The body of Lige Strickland, the negro
who was implicated in the 
Cranford murder by Sam Hose, was found this morning swinging to the limb of a
persimmon tree within a 
mile and a quarter of this place, as told in the Constitution extra
yesterday. Before death was allowed to end 
the sufferings of the Negro, his ears were cut off and the small finger of
his left hand was severed at the 
second joint. One of these trophies was in Palmetto to-day. 
On the chest of the Negro was a scrap of blood-stained 

{Begin page no. 11}
paper, attached with an ordinary pin. On one side this paper contained the
following: 
"N.Y. Journal. We must protect our Ladies. 23--99." 
The other side of the paper contained a warning to the Negroes of the
neighborhood. It read as follows: 
"Beware all darkies. You will be treated the same way." 
Before being finally lynched, Lige Strickland was given a chance to confess
to the misdeeds of which the mob 
supposed him to be guilty, but he protested his innocence until the end. 
Three times the noose was placed around his neck and the Negro was drawn up
off the ground; three times 
he was let down with warnings that death was in store for him should he fail
to confess his complicity in the 
Cranford murder, and three times Strickland proclaimed his innocence, until,
weary of useless torturing, the 
mob pulled on the rope and tied the end around the slender trunk of the
persimmon tree. 
Not a shot was fired by the mob. Strickland was strangled to death. He was
lynched about 2:30 a.m. 
The lynching of Lige Strickland was not accomplished without a desperate
effort on the part of his employer 
to save his life. The man who pleaded for the Negro is Major W. W. Thomas, an
ex-State Senator, and one 
of the most distinguished citizens of Coweta County. 
Sunday night, about 8:30 o'clock about fifteen men went to the plantation of
Major Thomas and took Lige 
Strickland from the little cabin in the woods that he called home, leaving
his wife and five children to wail 
and weep over the fate they knew was in store for the Negro. Their cries
aroused Major Thomas, and that 
sturdy old gentleman of the antebellum type followed the lynchers in his
buggy, accompanied by his son, 
W.M. Thomas, determined to save, if possible, the life of his plantation
darky. 
He overtook the lynchers with their victim at Palmetto, and then ensued the
weirdest and most dramatic 
scene this section has ever known, with only the moonlight to show the faces
of the grim, determined men. 
It had for its actors the Negro, apparently unconcerned even with the noose
around his neck; the old white-
haired gentlemen, pleading for the life of his servant, and attempting to
prove the innocence of the Negro to 
men who would not be convinced. 
Lige Strickland was halted directly opposite the telegraph office. The noose
was adjusted around his neck and 
the end of the rope was thrown over a tree. Strickland was told he had a
chance before dying to confess his 
complicity in the crime. He replied: 

{Begin page no. 12}
"I have told you all I know, gentlemen. You can kill me if you wish, but I
know nothing more to tell." 
The Negro's life might have been ended then but for the arrival of Major
Thomas, who leaped from his 
buggy and asked for a hearing. He asked the crowd to give the Negro a chance
for his life here on the streets 
of Palmetto, and Major Thomas said he would speak in his defense. A short
conference resulted in 
acquiescence to this, and Major Thomas spoke in substance as follows: 
"Gentlemen, this Negro is innocent. Hose said Lige had promised to give him
$20 to kill Cranford, and I 
believe Lige has not had $20 since he has been on my place. This is a
law-abiding Negro you are about to 
hang. He has never done any of you any harm, and now I want you to promise me
that you will turn him 
over either to the bailiff of this town or to some one who is entitled to
receipt for him, in order that he may 
be given a hearing on his case. I do not ask that you liberate him. Hold him
and if the courts adjudge him 
guilty, hang him." 
There were some, however, who agreed with Major Thomas, and after a
discussion a vote was taken, which 
was supposed to mean life or death to Lige Strickland. The vote to let him
live was unanimous. 
Major Thomas then retired some distance and the mob was preparing to send
Strickland in a wagon to 
Newman when a member of the mob said: 
"We have got him here, let's keep him." 
This again aroused the mob and a messenger was sent to advise Major Thomas to
leave Palmetto for his 
own good, but the old gentleman was not frightened so easily. He drew himself
up and said with all the 
emphasis he could summon: 
"I have never before been ordered to leave a town and I am not going to leave
this one." And then the 
Major, uplifting his hand to give his words force, said to the messenger: 
"Tell them that the muscles in my legs are not trained to running; tell them
that I have stood the fire and 
heard the whistle of the minies from a thousand rifles and I am not
frightened by this crowd." 
Major Thomas was not molested. 
Then, with the understanding that Lige Strickland was to be delivered to the
jailer at Fairburn, Major 
Thomas saw the Negro he had pleaded for led off to his death. This occurred
at about 1 o'clock this morning. 
Strickland was then taken in the rear of the home of Dr. W.S. Zellars, to the
persimmon tree upon which his 
lifeless body was left hanging. 

{Begin page no. 13}
CHAPTER IV. 
REPORT OF DETECTIVE LOUIS P. LE VIN. 
The colored citizens of Chicago sent a detective to Georgia, and his report
shows that Samuel Hose, who was 
brutally tortured at Newman, Ga., and then burned to death, never assaulted
Mrs. Cranford and that he 
killed Alfred Cranford in self-defense. 
The full test of the report is as follows: 
About three weeks ago I was asked to make an impartial and thorough
investigation of the lynchings which 
occurred near Atlanta, Ga., not long since. I left Chicago for Atlanta, and
spent over a week in the 
investigation. The facts herein were gathered from interviews with persons I
met in Griffin, Newman, 
Atlanta and in the vicinity of these places. 
I found no difficulty in securing interviews from white people. There was no
disposition on their part to 
conceal any part they took in the lynchings. They discussed the details of
the burning of Sam Hose with the 
freedom which one would talk about an afternoon's advertisement in which he
had very pleasantly 
participated. 
Who was Sam Hose? His true name was Samuel Wilkes. He was born in Macon, Ga.,
where he lived until 
his father died. The family, then consisting of his mother, brother and
sister, moved to Marshall, where all 
worked and made the reputation of hard-working, honest people. Sam studied
and was soon able to read 
and write, and was considered a bright, capable man. His mother became an
invalid, and as his brother was 
considered almost an imbecile, Sam was the mainstay of the family. He worked
on different farms, and 
among the men he worked for was B. Jones, who afterward captured him and
delivered him over to the 
mob at Newman. 
Sam's mother partly recovered, and as his sister married, Sam left and went
to Atlanta to better his 
condition. He secured work near Palmetto for a man named Alfred Cranford, and
worked for him for about 
two years, up to the time of the tragedy. I will not call it a murder, for
Samuel Wilkes killed Alfred Cranford 
in self-defense. The story you have read about a Negro stealing into the
house and murdering the 
unfortunate man at his supper has no foundation in fact. Equally untrue is
the charge that after murdering 
the husband he assaulted the wife. The reports indicated that the murderer
was 

{Begin page no. 14}
a stranger, who had to be identified. The fact is he had worked for Cranford
for over a year. 
Was there a murder? That Wilkes killed Cranford there is no doubt, but under
what circumstances can 
never be proven. I asked many white people of Palmetto what was the motive.
They considered it a useless 
question. A "nigger" had killed a white man, and that was enough. Some said
it was because the young 
"niggers" did not know their places, others that they were getting too much
education, while others declared 
that it was all due to the influence of the Northern "niggers." W.W. Jackson,
of Newman, said: "If I had my 
way about it I would lynch every Northern "nigger" that comes this way. They
are at the bottom of this." 
John Low of Lincoln, Ala., said: "My negroes would die for me simply because
I keep a strict hand on them 
and allow no Northern negroes to associate with them." 
Upon the question of motive there was no answer except that which was made by
Wilkes himself. The 
dispatches said that Wilked confessed both to the murder and the alleged
assault upon Mrs. Cranford. But 
neither of these reports is true. Wilkes did say that he killed Mr. Cranford,
but he did not at any time admit 
that he assaulted Mrs. Cranford. This he denied as long as he had breath. 
After the capture Wilkes told his story. He said that his trouble began with
Mr. Cranford a week before. He 
said that he had word that his mother was much worse at home, and that he
wanted to go home to visit his 
mother. He told Mr. Cranford and asked for some money. Cranford refused to
pay Wilkes, and that 
provoked hard words. Cranford was known to be a man of quick temper, but
nothing had occurred that day. 
The next day Cranford borrowed a revolver and said that if Sam started any
more trouble he would kill him. 
Sam, continuing his story, said that on the day Cranford was killed he (Sam)
was out in the yard cutting up 
wood; that Cranford came out into the yard, and that he and Cranford began
talking about the subject of the 
former trouble; that Cranford became enraged and drew his gun to shoot, and
then Sam threw the ax at 
Cranford and ran. He knew the ax struck Cranford, but did not know Cranford
had been killed by the blows 
for several days. At the time of the encounter in the yard, Sam said that
Mrs. Cranford was in the house, and 
that after he threw the ax at Cranford he never saw Mrs. Cranford, for he
immediately went to the woods 
and kept in hiding until he reached the vicinity of his mother's home, where
he was captured. During all 
the time Sam was on the train going to the scene of the burning, Sam is said
by all I 

{Begin page no. 15}
talked with to have been free from excitement or terror. He told his story in
a straightforward way, said he 
was sorry he had killed Cranford and always denied that he had attacked Mrs.
Cranford. 
I did not see Mrs. Cranford. She was still suffering from the awful shock. As
soon as her husband was killed 
she ran to the home of his father and told him that Sam had killed her
husband. She did not then say that 
Sam had assaulted her. She was completely overcome and was soon unconscious
and remained so for most 
of the next two day. So that at the time when the story was started that Sam
had added the crime of outrage 
to murder, Mrs. Cranford, the only one who could have told about it, was
lying either unconscious or 
delirious at the home of her father-in-law, G.E. Cranford. 
The burning of Wilkes was fully premeditated. It was no sudden outburst of a
furious, maddened mob. It 
was known long before Wilkes was caught that he would be burned. The
Cranfords are an old, wealthy and 
aristocratic family, and it was intended to make an example of the Negro who
killed him. What exasperation 
the killing lacked was supplied by the report of the alleged attack on Mrs.
Cranford. And it was not the 
irresponsible rabble that urged the burning, for it was openly advocated by
some of the leading men of 
Palmetto. E.D. Sharkey, Superintendent Atlanta Bagging Mills, was one of the
most persistent advocates of 
the burning. He claimed that he saw Mrs. Cranford the day after the killing
and that she told him that she 
was assaulted. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Cranford was unconscious at that
time. He persistently told the story 
and urged the burning of Sam as soon as caught. 
John Haas, President of the Capitol Bank, was particularly prominent in
advocating the burning. People 
doing business at his bank, and coming from Newman and Griffin, were urged to
make an example of Sam 
by Burning him. 
W.A. Hemphill, President and business manager, and Clark Howell, editor of
the Atlanta Constitution, 
contributed more to the burning than any other men and all other forces in
Georgia. Through the columns 
of their paper they exaggerated every detail of the killing, invented and
published inflammatory descriptions 
of a crime that was never committed, and by glaring head lines continually
suggested the burning of the 
man when caught. They offered a reward of $500 blood money for the capture of
the fugitive, and during all 
the time of the man-hunt they never made one suggestion that the law should
have its course. 
The Governor of the State acquiesced in the burning by refusing to prevent
it. Sam Wilkes was captured at 9 
o'clock Saturday night. He was in Griffin by 9 o'clock Sunday morning. It was
first proposed to burn him in 
Griffin, but the program was changed, and it was decided to take him to
Newman to burn him. Governor 
Candler had ordered that Wilkes should be taken to the Fulton county jail
when he was caught. That would 
have placed him in Atlanta. When Wilkes reached Griffin he was in custody of
J.B. Jones, J.L. Jones, R.A. 
Gordon, William Mattews, P.F. Phelps, Charles Thomas and A. Rogowski. They
would not take the prisoner 
to Atlanta, where the Governor had ordered him to be taken, but arranged to
take him to Newman, where 
they knew a mob of six thousand were waiting to burn him. It is nearer to
Atlanta from Griffin than 
Newman. Besides, there was no train going to Newman that Sunday morning, so
the captors of Wilkes were 
obliged to secure a special train to take the prisoner to the place of
burning. This required over two hour's 
time to arrange so that the special train did not leave Griffin for Newman
until 11:40 am. 
Meanwhile the news of the capture of Wilkes was known all over Georgia. It
was known in Atlanta in the 
early morning that the prisoner would not be brought to Atlanta, but that he
would be taken to Newman to 
be burned. As soon as this was settled, a special train was engaged as an
excursion train, to take people to the 
burning. It was soon filled by the criers, who cried out, "Special train to
Newman! All aboard for the 
burning!" After this special moved out, another was made up to accommodate
the late comers and those 
who were at church. In this way more than two thousand citizens of Atlanta
were taken to the burning, 
while the Governor, with all the power of the State at his command, allowed
all preparations for the 
burning to be made during ten hours of daylight, and did not turn his hand to
prevent it. 
I do not need to give the details of the burning. I mention only one fact,
and that is the disappointment 
which the crowd felt when it could not make Wilkes beg for mercy. During all
the time of his torture he 
never uttered one cry. They cut off both ears, skinned his face, cut off his
fingers, gashed his legs, cut open his 
stomach and pulled out his entrails, then when his contortions broke the iron
chain, they pushed his 
burning body back into the fire. But through it all Wilkes never once uttered
a cry or beg for mercy. Only 
once in a particularly fiendish torture did he speak, then he simply groaned,
"Oh Lord Jesus." 
Among the prominent men at the burning, and whose identity was disclosed to
me, are William Pinton, 
Clair Owens and William Potts, of Palmetto; W.W. Jackson and H.W. Jackson 

{Begin page no. 17}
of Newman; Peter Howson and T. Vaughn, of the same place; John Hazlett, Pirre
St. Clair and Thomas 
Lightfoot, of Griffin. R. J. Williams, ticket agent at Griffin, made up the
special Central Georgia Railroad train 
and advertised the burning at Griffin, while B. F. Wyly and George Smith, of
Atlanta, made up two special 
Atlanta and West Point Railroad trains. All of these gentlemen of eminent
respectability could give the 
authorities valuable information about the burning if called upon. 
While Wilkes was being burned the colored people fled terror-stricken to the
woods, for none knew where 
the fury would strike. I talked with many colored people, but all will
understand why I can give no names. 
The torture and hanging of the colored preacher is everywhere acknowledge to
have been without a shadow 
of reason or excuse. I did not talk with one white man who believed that
Strickland had anything to do with 
Wilkes. I could not find any person who heard Wilkes mention Strickland's
name. I talked with men who 
heard Wilkes tell his story, but all agreed that he said he killed Cranford
because Cranford was about to kill 
him, and that he did not mention Strickland's name. He did not mention it
when he was being tortured 
because he did not speak to anybody. I could not find anybody who could tell
me how the story started that 
Strickland hired Wilkes to kill Cranford. 
On the other hand, I saw many who knew Strickland, and all spoke of him in
the highest terms. I went to 
see Mr. Thomas, and he said that Strickland had been about his family for
years, and that he never knew a 
more reliable and worthy man among the colored people. He said that he was
always advising the colored 
people to live right, keep good friends with the white people and earn their
respect. He said he was nearly 
sixty years old and had not had five dollars at one time in a year. He
defended the poor old man against the 
mob for a long time, and the mob finally agreed to put him in jail for a
trial, but as soon as they had 
Strickland in their control they proceeded to lynch him. 
The torture of the innocent colored preacher was only a little less than that
of Wilkes. His fingers and ears 
were cut off, and the mob inflicted other tortures that cannot even be
suggested. He was strung up three 
times and let down each time so he could confess. But he died protesting his
innocence. He left a wife and 
five children, all of whom are still on Colonel Thomas' premises. 
I spent some time in trying to find the facts about the shooting of the five
colored men at Palmetto a few days 
before 

{Begin page no. 18}
Cranford was killed. But no one seemed to be able to tell who accused the
men, and as they were not given a 
trial, there was no way to get at any of the facts. It seems that one or two
barns or houses had been burned, 
and it was reported that the Negroes were setting fire to the buildings. Nine
colored men were arrested on 
suspicion. They were not men of bad character, but quite the reverse. They
were intelligent, hard-working 
men, and all declared they could easily prove their innocence. They were
taken to a Warehouse to be kept 
until their trial next day. That night, about 12 o' clock, and armed mob
marched to the place and fired three 
volleys into the line of chained prisoners. They then went away thinking all
were dead. All the prisoners 
were shot. Of these five died. Nothing was done about the killing of these
men, but their families were 
afterward ordered to leave the place, and all have left. Five widows and
seventeen fatherless children, all 
driven from home, constitute one result of the lynching. I saw no one who
thought much about the matter. 
The Negroes were dead, and while they did not know whether they were guilty
or not, it was plain that 
nothing could be done about it. And so the matter ended. With these facts I
made my way home, thoroughly 
convinced that a Negro's life is a very cheap thing in Georgia. ..........
LOUIS P. LE VIN.