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 | |
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Was It A Funeral Pyre? Charred Stump Ends Trail of Bay Minette MobType: Newspaper “Was It A Funeral Pyre?; Charred Stump Ends Trail of Bay Minette Mob.” Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, TN), April 7, 1908. |
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Party Of Sixty Lynchers Swing Up A Negro Trusty Convict For Criminal AssaultType: Newspaper “Party Of Sixty Lynchers; Swing Up A Negro Trusty Convict For Criminal Assault.” Laredo Weekly Times (Laredo, TX), April 12, 1908. |
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Angry Mobs Lynch Negroes One Attacked Woman; Other Shot Boy Dead Both of the Victims Are Taken From the Authorities and Each Makes a ConfessionType: 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. |
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Alabama and Mississippi Mobs Lynch Two Negroes Escaped Convict Assaulted White Woman; Young Black Murders BoyType: Newspaper “Alabama and Mississippi Mobs Lynch Two Negroes; Escaped Convict Assaulted White Woman; Young Black Murders Boy.” Oakland Tribune (Oakland, CA), April 6, 1908. |
“Woman’s Assailant Lynched By A Mob; Negro Taken From Alabama Officers And Killed.” Wilkes-Barre Semi-Weekly Record (Wilkes-Barre, PA), April 7, 1908.
“Was Light Punishment.” The Coosa River News (Centre, AL), January 21, 1898.
“Was It A Funeral Pyre?; Charred Stump Ends Trail of Bay Minette Mob.” Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, TN), April 7, 1908.
“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.
“Victim’s Head Nearly Severed.” The Indiana Gazette (Indiana, PA), December 26, 1906.
“Two Negroes Pay Penalty Of Crime.” The Decatur Herald (Decatur, IL), April 7, 1908.
“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.
“Two Negroes Lynched In Southern States.” The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), April 6, 1908.
“Two Negroes Lynched In Southern States; Assault Upon Young Woman Was One’s Crime, Murder of Child the Other’s; Both Victims Confessed; Alabama and Mississippi Mobs Overpower Officers to Secure Their Men.” Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, PA), April 6, 1908.
“Two Negroes Lynched In South; One for Killing Boy, the Other for Assault – Each Confesses His Guilt.” New-York Tribune (New York, NY), 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.
“Two Negroes Lynched By Mobs In Two States.” The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), April 6, 1908.
“Two Negroes Lynched.” Buffalo Courier (Buffalo, NY), April 6, 1908.
“Two Negroes Lynched.” The Buffalo Times (Buffalo, NY), April 6, 1908.
“Two Negroes Lynched.” The North Adams Transcript (North Adams, MA), April 6, 1908.
“Two Negroes Lynched; Wanton Murder of Boy and Brutal Assault on Woman Quickly Avenged.” Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, PA), April 6, 1908.
“Two Negroes Lynched; Alabama and Mississippi People Take Vengeance.” The Fulton Democrat (McConnellsburg, PA), April 9, 1908.
“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.
“Two Negroes Are Lynched; One, already serving Sentence for Manslaughter, attacked a white Woman; Admitted His Guilt; Other Victim had shot dead a twelve-year-old white Boy without Warning.” Buffalo Morning Express and Illustrated Buffalo Express (Buffalo, NY), April 6, 1908.
“Two Negroes Are Lynched; Mobs in South Take Punishment in Their Own Hands.” The Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, NE), 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.
“Two Lynchings In South; Swift Justice Meted Out to Negroes by Mobs.” Belvidere Daily Republican (Belvidere, IL), April 6, 1908.
“Two Lynchings In South; Swift Justice Meted Out to Negroes by Mobs.” Paxton Daily Record (Paxton, IL), April 6, 1908.
“Two Lynchings In South; Swift Justice Meted Out to Negroes by Mobs.” Portage Daily Register (Portage, WI), April 6, 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.
“Two Lynchings; Negroes in Mississippi and Alabama Strung Up.” The Morning Journal-Courier (New Haven, CT), April 6, 1908.
“‘Two Lynching Bees In Prospect; Posses Are Abroad in Colorado And Alabama.” Fort Wayne Daily News (Fort Wayne, IN), April 7, 1908.
“Two Black Men Done To Death; One Assaulted a Woman and the Other Killed a Small Boy; Both Culprits Confessed; One Lynching In Alabama, One In Mississippi.” The Salt Lake Herald (Salt Lake City, UT), April 6, 1908.
“Twenty Lashed For a Homicide.” The Selma Times (Selma, AL), January 13, 1898.
“Trusty Lynched for Nameless Crime.” Wise County Messenger (Decatur, TX), April 10, 1908.
“Throat Was Cut With Case Knife; Dastardly Murder Commited 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.
“Throat Cut from Ear to Ear.” Kenosha Evening News (Kenosha, WI), December 26, 1906.
“Throat Cut from Ear to Ear.” The Lake Geneva News (Lake Geneva, WI), December 27, 1906.
“The “Trusty” Abuse.” The Vicksburg American (Vicksburg, MS), April 11, 1908.
“Still at Large.” The Weekly High Point Enterprise (High Point, NC), April 15, 1908.
“Southern Mobs Lynch Negroes.” Quad-City Times (Davenport, IA), April 6, 1908.
“Southern Mobs Lynch Negroes; One Victim Had Murdered White Boy; Another Confessed Assault on White Woman – In Alabama and Mississippi Respectively.” Burlington Daily News (Burlington, VT), April 6, 1908.
“Some Alabama Fights.” The Lamar Democrat (Vernon, AL), January 2, 1907.
“Slayer of Sheriff Fatch Lynched.” The Tuskegee News (Tuskegee, AL), January 28, 1909.
“Shot at Bay Minette.” The Brewton Standard (Brewton, AL), April 30, 1908.
“Short Telergams; Mobile, Ala..” The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, OH), April 6, 1908.
“Search For Clayton; Negro Believed To Be Hidden Away in Mobile.” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, LA), April 10, 1908.
“Saved By Drink.” The Buffalo Enquirer (Buffalo, NY), April 7, 1908.
“Ropes For Two.” Hopkinsville Kentuckian (Hopkinsville, KY), April 9, 1908.
“Quick Justice In Alabama.” Leon Indicator (Leon, KS), April 9, 1908.
“Quick Justice In Alabama.” The Ottawa Daily Republic (Ottawa, KS), April 6, 1908.
“Quick Justice In Alabama.” The Parsons Independent (Parsons, KS), April 10, 1908.
“Quick Justice In Alabama.” The Western Star (Coldwater, KS), April 10, 1908.
“Plumber’s Throat Is Cut.” Spokane Chronicle (Spokane, WA), December 26, 1906.
“Plumber Murdered.” Xenia Daily Gazette (Xenia, OH), December 26, 1906.
“Pays Penalty Of Death; Negro Shoots White Boy; Was Lynched By A Mob Of 500; Young Negro Quickly Pays Penalty for Murder of White Boy.” Parsons Daily Eclipse (Parsons, KS), April 6, 1908.
“Party Of Sixty Lynchers; Swing Up A Negro Trusty Convict For Criminal Assault.” Laredo Weekly Times (Laredo, TX), April 12, 1908.
“Officers Unable to Find Body of Lynched Negro.” Charlotte Daily Observer (Charlotte, NC), April 7, 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.
“News Notes.” Interior Journal (Stanford, KY), April 10, 1908.
“News Items Of Personal Interest.” The Montgomery Times (Montgomery, AL), January 3, 1912.
“News From Your Old Home State; Alabama.” Los Angeles Herald (Los Angeles, CA), April 16, 1908.
“News Cut Short; General.” Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, AB), April 11, 1908.
“News And Comment; A Day’s Events.” The Atchison Daily Globe (Atchison, 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.
“Negroes Lynched By White Mobs.” Vancouver Daily World (Vancouver, BC), April 10, 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’s Body Missing; Clayton Confessed His Crime to Officers Before Mob Tore Him Away.” Rutland Daily Herald (Rutland, VT), April 6, 1908.
“Negro Lyhched; Mississippans Wreak Vengeance On Rapist.” The Morning Mercury (Huntsville, AL), April 7, 1908.
“Negro Lynched By Mob; Convict Criminally Assaulted a Young White Woman.” The Brainerd Daily Dispatch (Brainerd, MN), April 6, 1908.
“Negro Lynched at Bay Minette.” The Brewton Standard (Brewton, AL), April 9, 1908.
“Negro Lynched.” Batesville Daily Guard (Batesville, AR), April 7, 1908.
“Negro Lynched.” Batesville Guard (Batesville, AR), April 10, 1908.
“Negro Lynched; He Assaulted a White Woman And Was Quickly Executed.” The Courier (Waterloo, IA), April 6, 1908.
“Negro Has Escaped; One That Was Thought To Have Been Lynched.” The Morning Mercury (Huntsville, AL), April 8, 1908.
“Negro Fugitive Located.” St. Joseph News-Press/Gazette (St. Joseph, MO), April 10, 1908.
“Negro Fiend Located.” The Bristol Herald (Bristol, TN), April 10, 1908.
“Negro Escapes Mob; Posse Still Pursues.” The Washington Times (Washington, D.C.), April 7, 1908.
“Negro Escapes Mob.” Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, 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 Escapes From Mob.” The Democrat-Reporter (Linden, AL), April 9, 1908.
“Negro Convict Lynched.” Omaha Daily Bee (Omaha, NE), April 6, 1908.
“Negro Convict Located; Assaulted White Woman and Escaped From Lynchers.” Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, TN), April 10, 1908.
“Negro Convict Captured.” The Bee (Earlington, KY), April 16, 1908.
“Negro Confesses To Criminal Assault And Is Lynched By Mob.” The Semi-Weekly Citizen (Asheville, NC), 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 Clayton Located; Is Near Hollingers or Twelve Mile Island.” The Baldwin Times (Bay Minette, AL), May 28, 1908.
“Negro Attacked Young Wife.” The Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, OH), April 8, 1908.
The Public Ledger (Maysville, KY), April 7, 1908.
The Cherokee Sentinel (Centre, AL), January 27, 1898.
The Goldsboro Weekly Argus (Goldsboro, NC), April 16, 1908.
“Murdered On Street.” Reading Times (Reading, PA), December 26, 1906.
“Murdered on a Mobile Street.” Bureau County Tribune (Princeton, IL), December 28, 1906.
“Murdered on a Mobile Street.” The Irish Standard (Minneapolis, MN), December 29, 1906.
“Murdered on a Mobile Street.” The Times (Streator, IL), December 26, 1906.
“Murder In Mobile; John McKenzie Found With Head Severed From Body; Mysterious Affair, the Perpetrator and Motive Being Unknown – Other News From Alabama.” The Nashville American (Nashville, TN), December 26, 1906.
“Mobs Lynch Two Negroes In South; One Attacked Woman, Other Slew Boy and Both Confessed Their Guilt.” The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, CA), April 6, 1908.
“Mobs Lynch Two Negroes.” The Victoria Daily Times (Victoria, BC), April 6, 1908.
“Mobs Lynch Two Negroes; Confessed To Crimes Of Murder And Assault; One Negro Was A Convict; After Assaulting Woman He Returned to Convict Camp Where He Was Arrested – Taken Outside Camp Limits.” The Leavenworth Post (Leavenworth, KS), April 6, 1908.
“Mobs Lynch Two Negroes; Attack on Woman and Murder of 12-Year-Old Boy Quickly Avenged.” Evening Times-Republican (Marshalltown, IA), April 6, 1908.
“Mobs Lynch Two; Both Were Taken From The Arresting Officers; Negro Slays 12-Year-Old Boy; Body of African Who Criminally Assaulted White Woman Has Not Yet Been Found.” The Marshfield Mail (Marshfield, MO), April 9, 1908.
“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.
“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.
“Mob of 25 Men Lynch A Negro; Broke Out of a Stockade Where He Was Serving Time and Assaulted a Woman; Admitted His Guilt; Mob Tore Him Away from the Officer and His Body Has Not Been Found – A Young Negro Lynched in Mississippi for Shooting a White Boy.” Burlington Weekly Free Press (Burlington, VT), April 9, 1908.
“Mob Lynch Two Negroes; One Attacks White Woman; Other Kills Boy; Crimes Committed Near Mobile, Ala., Quickly Punished by Bands of 75 and of 500 Men.” The Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL), April 6, 1908.
“Master Plumber Murdered At Mobile.” The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), December 26, 1906.
“Master Plumber Murdered.” The Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, NE), December 28, 1906.
“Master Plumber Murdered.” The York Daily (York, PA), December 26, 1906.
“Master Plumber Is Murdered In Street.” The Butte Miner (Butte, MT), December 26, 1906.
“Man Killed; Woman Burned; McKenzie’s Throat Cut – Fireworks Makes Blaze of Bed.” The Washington Herald (Washington, D.C.), December 26, 1906.
“Lynchings.” Alexandria Gazette (Alexandria, VA), 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.
“Lynching In Two States; Two Negroes Confess Heinous Crimes Before Ropes Are Drawn.” The Houston Post (Houston, TX), April 6, 1908.
“Lynching in Alabama; Negro Convict Who Assaulted White Woman Strung Up.” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, LA), April 6, 1908.
“Lynching In Alabama; Mob Ambushes an Officer in Charge of Woman’s Assailant.” Sioux City Journal (Sioux City, IA), 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.
“Lynched For Assault on White Woman.” Fall River Daily Evening News (Fall River, MA), April 6, 1908.
“Lynched For Assault.” Carlisle Evening Herald (Carlisle, PA), April 6, 1908.
“Lynched For Assault.” Mount Carmel Item (Mount Carmel, PA), April 6, 1908.
“Lynched For Assault.” Republican and Herald (Pottsville, PA), April 6, 1908.
“Lynched For Assault.” The Daily News (Mount Carmel, PA), April 6, 1908.
“Lynched for Assault.” The Marshall Messenger (Marshall, TX), April 10, 1908.
“Lynched For Assault.” The Sentinel (Carlisle, PA), April 6, 1908.
“Lynched By A Mob Of 500; Young Negro Quickly Pays Penalty For Murder of White Boy.” The Pittsburg Daily Headlight (Pittsburg, KS), April 6, 1908.
“Lynched By A Mob Of 500; Quick Justice in Alabama.” The Abilene Weekly Chronicle (Abilene, KS), April 8, 1908.
“Located in Mobile.” Nashville Banner (Nashville, TN), April 10, 1908.
“Little Items of Interest.” The Marion Daily Mirror (Marion, OH), April 6, 1908.
“His Throat Cut from Ear to Ear.” The Selma Times (Selma, AL), December 28, 1906.
“His Throat Cut from Ear to Ear.” The Tuscaloosa News (Tuscaloosa, AL), December 28, 1906.
“His Throat Cut.” The Anaconda Standard (Anaconda, MT), December 26, 1906.
“He Escaped From The Mob.” The Nashville American (Nashville, TN), April 10, 1908.
“Governor Offers Reward.” The Leavenworth Post (Leavenworth, KS), April 9, 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.
“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.
“Found Dead On Street.” The Vicksburg Herald (Vicksburg, MS), December 26, 1906.
“For His Cowardly Deed A Black Man Is Lynched.” The Anaconda Standard (Anaconda, MT), April 6, 1908.
“For Assault; Negro Taken From Deputy and Carried Away by Mob.” Marysville Journal-Tribune (Marysville, OH), April 6, 1908.
“Fate of Negro Rapist is Shrouded in Mystery.” Alabama Times (Montgomery, AL), April 23, 1908.
“Fate of Negro Rapist is Shrouded in Mystery.” The Montgomery Times (Montgomery, AL), April 7, 1908.
“Failed to Find Body.” Nashville Banner (Nashville, TN), April 7, 1908.
“Escaped While Mob Was Drunk.” Wilkes-Barre Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA), April 7, 1908.
“Escaped Negro Trusty Is Still At Large.” The Twin-City Daily Sentinel (Winston-Salem, NC), April 8, 1908.
“Escaped Negro Trusty Is Still At Large.” The Western Sentinel (Winston-Salem, NC), April 10, 1908.
“Dragged 20 Miles; Negro Is Then Lynched by Mob of Enraged Alabamans.” The Union-Banner (Clanton, AL), April 9, 1908.
“Convict Assaults Woman.” Crawford Mirror (Steelville, MO), April 9, 1908.
“Convict Assaults Woman.” Fair Play (Sainte Genevieve, MO), April 11, 1908.
“Convict Assaults Woman.” Ironton County Register (Ironton, MO), April 9, 1908.
“Convict Assaults Woman.” Mexico Missouri Message (Mexico, MO), April 16, 1908.
“Convict Assaults Woman.” Republican (Salem, IL), April 9, 1908.
“Convict Assaults Woman.” The Daily Free Press (Carbondale, IL), April 7, 1908.
“Convict Assaults Woman.” The Missouri Sharp Shooter (Rolla, MO), April 10, 1908.
“Convict Assaults Woman.” The Montgomery Tribune (Montgomery City, MO), April 10, 1908.
“Convict Assaults Woman.” The Muldrow Press (Muldrow, OK), April 10, 1908.
“Convict Assaults Woman.” The Salem Monitor (Salem, MO), April 9, 1908.
“Confesses To Assault.” Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), April 6, 1908.
“Condensed News Items.” The Owensboro Messenger (Owensboro, KY), April 8, 1908.
“Condensed News By Wire; Negro Is Lynched.” The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, CA), April 6, 1908.
“Clayton Still At Large; Sheriff Says Posse Got Drunk and Negro Escaped – Rewards Are Offered.” The Brooklyn Citizen (Brooklyn, NY), April 7, 1908.
“Clayton Still At Large; Hounds on Trail of Negro Who Was Reported Lynched.” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, LA), April 8, 1908.
“Clayton Lynched in Secret?.” The Raleigh Times (Raleigh, NC), April 7, 1908.
“Brutal Negro Lynched.” The Elwood Daily Record (Elwood, IN), April 6, 1908.
“Brief, But Newsy.” Princeton Daily Clarion (Princeton, IN), April 6, 1908.
“Body Not Found; Conclusive Evidence That Walter Clayton Was Burned by Alabama Mob.” Natchez Democrat (Natchez, MS), April 7, 1908.
“Blacks Taken From Officers And Rushed to Their Death.” The Birmingham News (Birmingham, AL), April 6, 1908.
“Black Ravisher And A Murderer Mob Law Victims; Enraged Alabama And Mississippi Citizens Officiate At Execution; The Crimes Are Atrocious; Young Matron Brutally Choked by Fiend and Assaulted-Twelve-Year-Old Shot Down in Cold Blood by Brute.” Altoona Times (Altoona, PA), April 6, 1908.
“Black Man Done to Death.” The Journal (Logan, UT), April 9, 1908.
“Big Reward For Desperate Negro.” The Selma Times-Journal (Selma, AL), April 13, 1908.
“Assaults White Woman; Is Hanged By A Mob.” St. Joseph Gazette (St. Joseph, MO), April 6, 1908.
“Another Pays Penalty.” The Missoulian (Missoula, MT), April 6, 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.” The Greenville Journal (Greenville, OH), April 9, 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.” The Herald (Jasper, IN), April 10, 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.” The News-Herald (Hillsboro, OH), April 9, 1908.
“An Alabama Lynching.” The Reporter-Times (Martinsville, IN), April 6, 1908.
“Alabama News.” The Montgomery Times (Montgomery, AL), January 26, 1909.
“Alabama and Mississippi Mobs Lynch Two Negroes; Escaped Convict Assaulted White Woman; Young Black Murders Boy.” Oakland Tribune (Oakland, CA), April 6, 1908.
“A Vigorous Man Hunt.” The Fort Wayne News (Fort Wayne, IN), April 7, 1908.
“A Negro Hung.” Franklin County Times (Russellville, AL), April 9, 1908.