Walter Clayton (Attempted Lynching)

About the Case

Date: April 5, 1908

County: Baldwin

Victim(s): Walter Clayton (Attempted Lynching)

Sex of Victim(s):male

Case Status: attempted

On December 25, 1906, John Atterbury McKenzie’s body was found in a ditch between Broad and Locust Street in Mobile, Alabama. [1] The night prior, McKenzie had visited Deputy Sheriff Fatch and asked if he could be loaned a pistol. McKenzie told Fatch that three white men named Charles Barrett, Willie Lewis, and McKean had threatened to kill him. [2] It is unknown why the men wanted to kill John McKenzie, a forty-year-old plumber, [3] but McKenzie’s fear proved to be reasonable because he would be dead by sunrise. Despite the sheriff being handed the names of the suspects by McKenzie himself, a black man named Walter Clayton would be sentenced for the murder in May of 1907. [4] Why Clayton was sentenced for McKenzie’s murder remains unclear, but after being sentenced, Clayton was sent to the Hand Lumber Company, a convict camp in Baldwin County. [5] Clayton was described as, “a model prisoner” [6] and made a trusty, but that changed in April of 1908. 

On April 4, 1908, Walter Clayton was accused of choking Perlula Cutchen White into submission in her home just outside of Loxley. [7] Clayton was supposedly interrupted by White’s brother-in-law which caused Clayton to flee back to the Hand Lumber Company. [8] Officers arrested Clayton the same night and he allegedly told officers, “not to take him back to the scene of his crime, as he committed it and it was not necessary to have him identified.” [9] The police then led Clayton to the jail in Bay Minette, but approximately 75 men ambushed the group and took Clayton with the intentions of lynching him. Initial newspapers reported that Clayton was killed, [10] but when the police were unable to find his body, the lynch mob claimed he escaped them because of their collective drunkenness. [11]  While this may have been a tactic used by the lynchers in an attempt to avoid legal repercussions, Governor Comer offered a $100 reward for the capture of Clayton and the citizens of Bay Minette offered an additional $50. [12] Even the citizens of Baldwin county seemed unsure of Clayton’s fate as his arrest record states he was, “either lynched or escaped.” [13] In the following months, black men in Yazoo City, Mississippi [14] and Hollinger’s Island, Alabama [15] were arrested under suspicion of being Walter Clayton, but what happened to either of those men is also unknown.

The only genealogical information found on Clayton is from his convict record. Clayton was five foot seven, 145 pounds, and 22 years old at the time of his arrest in May of 1907. This would have made him 22 or 23 at the time of the lynching. He had brown eyes, black hair, and light skin. All of his front teeth were decayed, and he had a habit of chewing tobacco. [16] 

Unfortunately, the Baldwin County Department of Archives and History closed during the process of researching Walter Clayton so any local records regarding the case were inaccessible. White newspapers, which is where the majority of my research comes from, only skim the surface of what really happened. Despite it being clear that some of the perpetrators were known by local authorities, their names were never given to the papers. While the lynchers were allowed to remain anonymous, Clayton was portrayed as a villain to the United States in nationwide newspapers. 

Whether or not Clayton survived the attempted lynching, remains a mystery, but if he did survive, his life would have dramatically changed. It would be hard for him to return to his family in Mobile or Baldwin county. Anyone who saw and recognized him would have been inclined to report him to the police in order to claim the reward. Even outside of Alabama, his name was known because the case was covered in newspapers nationwide. He probably would have felt the need to go by a new name and not contact anyone from his past. His life would have been uprooted while the people who tried to lynch him got to live their life as if nothing had changed.


[1]  “Throat Was Cut With Case Knife; Dastardly Murder Committed in Mobile Early Christmas Morning; John M’Kenzie The Victim; No Known Motive for the Deed and Belief is That the Man Was Mistaken for Another. Coroner’s Jury Fails to Fix the Guilt For the Crime,” The Birmingham News (Birmingham, AL), December 26, 1906.
[2]“Mobile Stirred By Murder Mystery; Man Who Appealed For Protection Later Found Dead With Throat Cut With Rusty Knife,” The Birmingham News (Birmingham, AL), December 27, 1906.
[3] Year: 1910; Census Place: Bay Minette, Baldwin, Alabama; Roll: T624_1; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0005; FHL microfilm: 1374014
[4]Ancestry.com. Alabama, Convict Records, 1886-1952 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.
[5] Ibid.
[6]“Two Negroes Are Lynched; Wesson, Miss., Mob Hangs John Burr for Killing Boy; Negro Trusty Lynched For Criminal Assault; Both Confess Their Guilt – Burr Shot 12-Year-Old White Boy With Out Provocation – Clayton’s Crime Most Henious,” Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, TN), April 6, 1908.; “Negroes Strung Up; One Lynched For Murder, The Othef For Criminal Assault; Mobs Are Well Behaved; Alabamians and Mississippians Went About Business in Hand in an Orderly Manner,” Abilene Semi Weekly Farm Reporter (Abilene, TX), April 7, 1908.; “Two Lynchings; One Negro For Assault And One For Murder Receive Mob Vengeance; White Woman Ravished; Negro Confessed And Was Hanged By Mob; Wanton Murder of White Boy Led to the Second Mob Execution,” Fort Smith Times (Fort Smith, AR), April 6, 1908.; “Negro Confesses To Criminal Assault And Is Lynched By Mob,” The Semi-Weekly Citizen (Asheville, NC), April 7, 1908.; “Lynching In Two States; Two Negroes Confess Heinous Crimes Before Ropes Are Drawn,” The Houston Post (Houston, TX), April 6, 1908.; “Lynching Of Two Negroes; One Is Hanged at Wesson, Miss., For Killing a White Boy; And the Other Lynched Near Bay Minette, Ala.,; For Having Assaulted a White Woman – He Already Was Under a 15-Year Sentence,” The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), April 6, 1908.; “Lynchers Busy In Two States; Two Negroes The Victims; One Confessed To Assaulting A Young White Woman; This Occurred In Alabama, Near Mobile. Second Case Happened Near Wesson, Miss., the Cause Being the Killing of a White Boy,” The Nashville American (Nashville, TN), April 6, 1908.
[7]Ibid.
[8]“Lynching in Alabama; Negro Convict Who Assaulted White Woman Strung Up,” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, LA), April 6, 1908.; “A Negro Hung,” Franklin County Times (Russellville, AL), April 9, 1908.; “Negro Lynched at Bay Minette,” The Brewton Standard (Brewton, AL), April 9, 1908.; “Negro Lyhched; Mississippans Wreak Vengeance On Rapist,” The Morning Mercury (Huntsville, AL), April 7, 1908.
[9]“Two Negroes Meet Death At Hands Of Southern Mobs; One Hanged and Shot for Killing a Boy, Another Lynched Because of an Assault,” The Topeka Daily Capital (Topeka, KS), April 6, 1908.; “Negroes Strung Up; One Lynched For Murder, The Othef For Criminal Assault; Mobs Are Well Behaved; Alabamians and Mississippians Went About Business in Hand in an Orderly Manner,” Abilene Semi Weekly Farm Reporter (Abilene, TX), April 7, 1908.; “Given Short Shrift; Two Negroes Meet Death at Hands of Mobs Following Brutal Crimes; One Slays Employer’s Son; The Other Makes Criminal Assault Upon Young White Woman – Both Confess and Are Taken From Officers and Put to Death,” The Indiana Gazette (Indiana, PA), April 6, 1908.; “For His Cowardly Deed A Black Man Is Lynched,” The Anaconda Standard (Anaconda, MT), April 6, 1908.; “Negroes Figure In Many Crimes; Two Lynchings – Woman Kills Black Burglar Who Had Attacked Father,” The Butte Daily Post (Butte, MT), April 6, 1908.; “Negro Confesses To Criminal Assault And Is Lynched By Mob,” The Semi-Weekly Citizen (Asheville, NC), April 7, 1908.; “Lynching Of Two Negroes; One Is Hanged at Wesson, Miss., For Killing a White Boy; And the Other Lynched Near Bay Minette, Ala.,; For Having Assaulted a White Woman – He Already Was Under a 15-Year Sentence,” The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), April 6, 1908.; “Two Lynchings In Southern States; Assault on Young Woman and Causeless Shooting of White Boy Incite Men to Action,” The Fresno Morning Republican (Fresno, CA), April 6, 1908.; “Lynchers Busy In Two States; Two Negroes The Victims; One Confessed To Assaulting A Young White Woman; This Occurred In Alabama, Near Mobile. Second Case Happened Near Wesson, Miss., the Cause Being the Killing of a White Boy,” The Nashville American (Nashville, TN), April 6, 1908.; “Two Negroes Lynched For Foul Crimes; Ones Murders 12-Year-Old White Boy; Five Hundred Men Take Slayer from Officers and Hang Him to Tree. Assailant of Woman Pays Penalty,” Los Angeles Herald (Los Angeles, CA), April 6, 1908.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] “Escaped Negro Trusty Is Still At Large,” The Western Sentinel (Winston-Salem, NC), April 10, 1908.; “Negro Escapes Mob; Assaulter Of White Woman Is Still At Large; Governor of Alabama Authorizes Reward for Capture of Walter Clayton Dead or Alive – Advices From Bay Minette State Mob Was Intoxicated – Dogs on Trail,” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, LA), April 7, 1908.; “Negro Clayton Off For Florida; Trusty Who Got Away From Mob Well on Way Toward Pensacola Now,” The Raleigh Times (Raleigh, NC), April 8, 1908.; “Negro Escapes From Mob,” The Democrat-Reporter (Linden, AL), April 9, 1908.; “Gave Mob The Slip; Negro Now At Large; Sheriff Says The Would Be Lynchers Were Drunk. Reward For Capture Of Fugitive Offered By Governor,” The Birmingham News (Birmingham, AL), April 7, 1908.;
[13]  Ancestry.com. Alabama, Convict Records, 1886-1952 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.
[14] “Was Clayton Burned At Stake; Sheriff Of Yazoo City, Miss., Wants Information Of Negro He Holds – Alleged Tragedy Recalled,” The Baldwin Times (Bay Minette, AL), April 13, 1908.; “News Of Mobile And Its Vicinity; Wharves Committee of City Council Will Meet Monday to Consider Plans and Specifications for Proposed Warehouses and Sheds,” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, LA), April 10, 1908.
[15] “Mobile And Vicinity; Search For Negro Clayton Is Renewed; Believed Assaulter and Other Desperate Convicts Are Hiding on Hollinger’s Island – Another Chapter in Old City Bond Refunding Controversy,” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, LA), May 27, 1908.; “Negro Clayton Located; Is Near Hollingers or Twelve Mile Island,” The Baldwin Times (Bay Minette, AL), May 28, 1908.
[16] Ancestry.com. Alabama, Convict Records, 1886-1952 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.

 

Featured Sources

Was It A Funeral Pyre? Charred Stump Ends Trail of Bay Minette Mob

Type: Newspaper

“Was It A Funeral Pyre?; Charred Stump Ends Trail of Bay Minette Mob.” Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, TN), April 7, 1908.

Party Of Sixty Lynchers Swing Up A Negro Trusty Convict For Criminal Assault

Type: Newspaper

“Party Of Sixty Lynchers; Swing Up A Negro Trusty Convict For Criminal Assault.” Laredo Weekly Times (Laredo, TX), April 12, 1908.

Angry Mobs Lynch Negroes One Attacked Woman; Other Shot Boy Dead Both of the Victims Are Taken From the Authorities and Each Makes a Confession

Type: Newspaper

“Angry Mobs Lynch Negroes; One Attacked Woman; Other Shot Boy Dead; Both of the Victims Are Taken From the Authorities and Each Makes a Confession.” The News-Herald (Hillsboro, OH), April 9, 1908.

Alabama and Mississippi Mobs Lynch Two Negroes Escaped Convict Assaulted White Woman; Young Black Murders Boy

Type: Newspaper

“Alabama and Mississippi Mobs Lynch Two Negroes; Escaped Convict Assaulted White Woman; Young Black Murders Boy.” Oakland Tribune (Oakland, CA), April 6, 1908.