Lynching of Ed Johnson
Encyclopedia
In 1906, a young black
man named Ed Johnson was murdered by a lynch mob
in his home town of Chattanooga, Tennessee
. He had been sentenced to death for the rape
of Nevada Taylor, but Justice John Marshall Harlan
of the United States Supreme Court had issued a stay of execution
. To prevent delay or avoidance of execution, a mob broke into the jail where Johnson was held and lynched him.
During Johnson's incarceration there was much public interest in the case, and many people including court officers feared a possible lynch attempt. The day after his murder saw widespread strikes among the black community in Chattanooga. Two thousand people attended his funeral on the next day.
Following the murder, Sheriff
Joseph Shipp, who had arrested Johnson, was found guilty of contempt of court
in United States v. Shipp
, the only criminal trial ever held by the United States Supreme Court.
On Johnson's tombstone is "God Bless you all. I AM A Innocent Man." at the top. On the bottom is written "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord"
The search for her attacker was led by Hamilton County
Sheriff Joseph Shipp. He arrested James Broaden, a black man fitting Taylor's description of her attacker who worked in the area, the morning after the attack. The next day he arrested Johnson after receiving a report that he'd been witnessed holding a leather strap near the streetcar stop on the night of the attack.
Johnson was indicted by grand jury
on 26 January. Sherrif Shipp, fearing the possibility of a lynching attempt, had both Johnson and Broaden transferred to a jail in Nashville to await trial. The evening after the transfer a mob approached the Chattanooga jail and demanded that Johnson be handed over to them, along with two other black men accused of capital crimes. The mob dispersed at the urging of several local business leaders, but not before causing significant damage to the jailhouse doors.
Johnson was returned to Chattanooga for his trial, which began on 6 February with Judge S. D. McReynolds presiding. During the trial, Taylor said that she recognized Johnson as the man who assaulted her by his voice, face, and size, as well as a hat he'd worn on the night of the attack and again in the Nashville jail when she'd been brought to identify him.
The trial concluded three days later with Johnson's conviction; he was sentenced to be put to death on 13 March. His defense attorneys considered the possibility of an appeal
but decided against it, believing that it would be unlikely to succeed and, in any case, an acquittal might incense the public to try another storming of the jail, killing Johnson possibly along with other prisoners.
with the United States circuit court
at Knoxville, arguing that Johnson's trial deprived him of rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. This move was highly unusual, since federal courts were traditionally held to have no jurisdiction over state criminal proceedings. The District Court Judge, C.D. Clark, dismissed the petition on these grounds on 10 March; however, he suggested in his ruling that McReynolds petition the Governor of Tennessee for a 10-day stay of execution, allowing time for an appeal of the District Court's decision. A stay was granted by Democratic
Governor John I. Cox
, taking the scheduled execution date to 20 March.
Parden used this stay to travel to Washington, D.C.
, where he met on 17 March with U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, the circuit judge of the Sixth Circuit which contains Tennessee. Harlen agreed to have the Supreme Court hear the appeal, and on 19 March the Court ordered a second stay in order to allow this.
and a sledgehammer
, which took over an hour. They then took Johnson to the nearby Walnut Street Bridge
, and hanged him with a rope hung over a beam. Around a dozen men were actively involved in the lynching, and more spectators gathered around the jail and followed to the bridge. The measure was to act as a deterrent to the city's blacks that resided on the opposite side of the bridge who walked the Walnut Street Bridge daily to go to and from their jobs in the downtown Chattanooga area.
and sentenced to 90 days imprisonment. In the court's words, "Shipp not only made the work of the mob easy, but in effect aided and abbetted it."
Ninety-four years after the lynching, Hamilton County Criminal Judge Doug Meyer overturned Johnson's conviction after hearing arguments that Johnson did not receive a fair trial because of the all-white jury
and the judge's refusal to move the trial from Chattanooga, where there was much publicity about the case.
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
man named Ed Johnson was murdered by a lynch mob
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
in his home town of Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
. He had been sentenced to death for the rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
of Nevada Taylor, but Justice John Marshall Harlan
John Marshall Harlan
John Marshall Harlan was a Kentucky lawyer and politician who served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court. He is most notable as the lone dissenter in the Civil Rights Cases , and Plessy v...
of the United States Supreme Court had issued a stay of execution
Stay of execution
A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" does not necessarily mean the death penalty; it refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is being stayed....
. To prevent delay or avoidance of execution, a mob broke into the jail where Johnson was held and lynched him.
During Johnson's incarceration there was much public interest in the case, and many people including court officers feared a possible lynch attempt. The day after his murder saw widespread strikes among the black community in Chattanooga. Two thousand people attended his funeral on the next day.
Following the murder, Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
Joseph Shipp, who had arrested Johnson, was found guilty of contempt of court
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
in United States v. Shipp
United States v. Shipp
United States v. Shipp, 203 U.S. 563, was a ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States with regard to events surrounding a lynching in Tennessee. It is the only Supreme Court criminal trial in its history.-Background:...
, the only criminal trial ever held by the United States Supreme Court.
On Johnson's tombstone is "God Bless you all. I AM A Innocent Man." at the top. On the bottom is written "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord"
Rape and trial
On 23 January 1906, Nevada Taylor was attacked while walking home from a streetcar stop to the cottage at the Chattanooga Forest Hills Cemetery, which she shared with her father the cemetery caretaker. She lost consciousness during the attack, and after wards could remember little beyond the fact that her assailant had been a black man who approached her from behind and wrapped a leather strap around her neck. A doctor who examined her shortly after the attack determined that she had been sexually assaulted.The search for her attacker was led by Hamilton County
Hamilton County, Tennessee
Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It was named for Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury. The 2005 Census Estimate placed the population at 310,935 . Its county seat is Chattanooga....
Sheriff Joseph Shipp. He arrested James Broaden, a black man fitting Taylor's description of her attacker who worked in the area, the morning after the attack. The next day he arrested Johnson after receiving a report that he'd been witnessed holding a leather strap near the streetcar stop on the night of the attack.
Johnson was indicted by grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
on 26 January. Sherrif Shipp, fearing the possibility of a lynching attempt, had both Johnson and Broaden transferred to a jail in Nashville to await trial. The evening after the transfer a mob approached the Chattanooga jail and demanded that Johnson be handed over to them, along with two other black men accused of capital crimes. The mob dispersed at the urging of several local business leaders, but not before causing significant damage to the jailhouse doors.
Johnson was returned to Chattanooga for his trial, which began on 6 February with Judge S. D. McReynolds presiding. During the trial, Taylor said that she recognized Johnson as the man who assaulted her by his voice, face, and size, as well as a hat he'd worn on the night of the attack and again in the Nashville jail when she'd been brought to identify him.
The trial concluded three days later with Johnson's conviction; he was sentenced to be put to death on 13 March. His defense attorneys considered the possibility of an appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
but decided against it, believing that it would be unlikely to succeed and, in any case, an acquittal might incense the public to try another storming of the jail, killing Johnson possibly along with other prisoners.
Appeals
Although Johnsons's court-appointed attorneys had decided not to pursue appeal, two local black attorneys, Noah Parden and Styles Hutchins, took up the case and requested an appeal of McReynolds on 12 February. This was denied, as was their subsequent request to the Tennessee Supreme Court. On 2 March, the same day of the unfavorable Tennessee Supreme Court ruling, Parden filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpusHabeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
with the United States circuit court
United States circuit court
The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdiction and major federal crimes. They also had appellate...
at Knoxville, arguing that Johnson's trial deprived him of rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. This move was highly unusual, since federal courts were traditionally held to have no jurisdiction over state criminal proceedings. The District Court Judge, C.D. Clark, dismissed the petition on these grounds on 10 March; however, he suggested in his ruling that McReynolds petition the Governor of Tennessee for a 10-day stay of execution, allowing time for an appeal of the District Court's decision. A stay was granted by Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Governor John I. Cox
John I. Cox
John Isaac Cox was Governor of Tennessee from 1905 to 1907.-Biography:Cox was born in Sullivan County, Tennessee, on November 23, 1855, and was the son of a Confederate soldier, which was less common in East Tennessee than in the rest of the state, as East Tennessee was one of the Southern...
, taking the scheduled execution date to 20 March.
Parden used this stay to travel to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where he met on 17 March with U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, the circuit judge of the Sixth Circuit which contains Tennessee. Harlen agreed to have the Supreme Court hear the appeal, and on 19 March the Court ordered a second stay in order to allow this.
Lynching
Johnson was murdered on the evening of March 19th. A group of men entered the jail between 8:30 and 9:00 pm and broke through a door using an axAxe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...
and a sledgehammer
Sledgehammer
A sledgehammer is a tool consisting of a large, flat head attached to a lever . The head is typically made of metal. The sledgehammer can apply more impulse than other hammers, due to its large size. Along with the mallet, it shares the ability to distribute force over a wide area...
, which took over an hour. They then took Johnson to the nearby Walnut Street Bridge
Walnut Street Bridge (Tennessee)
The Walnut Street Bridge is a truss bridge that spans the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, Tennessee.Built in 1890, it was the first to connect Chattanooga's downtown with the North Shore. According to the plaque on the bridge, Edwin Thatcher was the chief engineer for the bridge...
, and hanged him with a rope hung over a beam. Around a dozen men were actively involved in the lynching, and more spectators gathered around the jail and followed to the bridge. The measure was to act as a deterrent to the city's blacks that resided on the opposite side of the bridge who walked the Walnut Street Bridge daily to go to and from their jobs in the downtown Chattanooga area.
Aftermath
The lynching of Ed Johnson led to United States v. Shipp, the only criminal trial ever held by the United States Supreme Court. Sheriff Shipp and several other men were convicted of Contempt of courtContempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
and sentenced to 90 days imprisonment. In the court's words, "Shipp not only made the work of the mob easy, but in effect aided and abbetted it."
Ninety-four years after the lynching, Hamilton County Criminal Judge Doug Meyer overturned Johnson's conviction after hearing arguments that Johnson did not receive a fair trial because of the all-white jury
All-white jury
An "all-white jury" is an American political term used to describe a jury in a criminal trial, or grand jury investigation, composed only of white people, with the implication that the deliberations may not be fair and unbiased...
and the judge's refusal to move the trial from Chattanooga, where there was much publicity about the case.