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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.〔Waldrep, p. 74〕 Following the murder, President Roosevelt made it his goal to have the members of the mob put in jail by getting the secret service men in on the investigation. 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. Johnson while in jail, made a Christian profession and was baptized. He publicly forgave those who were about to kill him. On Johnson's tombstone are his final words "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" Johnson was the second African American to be lynched on Walnut Street Bridge, Alfred Blount being the first thirteen years earlier in 1893. ==Rape and trial== During December 1905, the Chattanooga area experienced what local newspaper referred to as a black "crime wave." Between December 11 and 23, black suspects allegedly committed one rape, one assault and burglary, and one isolated assault. On Christmas Eve, a black gambler fatally shot a Chattanooga constable, and on Christmas Day, police received reports of eight robberies or assaults committed by black suspects. In each instance, the victim was white. Although police arrested several suspects for these crimes, including the man who admitted to killing the constable (he claimed that he had acted in self-defense), Chattanooga residents made no attempts to lynch the alleged criminals. As news of the crime wave spread, however, racial fear and tension in the city dramatically increased.〔Curriden and Phillips, ''Contempt of Court,'' 30〕 The Ed Johnson case occurred within this atmosphere of heightened racial fear. On January 23, 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's caretaker.〔Rushing, p. 64〕〔Waldrep, p. 143〕 She lost consciousness during the attack, and afterwards 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 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.〔Waldrep, p. 144〕〔Rushing, p. 64〕 On the night that Ed Johnson was arrested, a mob of 1500 white Chattanooga metropolitan residents surrounded the prison in an attempt to lynch him. Anticipating such an attempt and desiring to protect the prisoner, Sheriff Joseph F. Shipp and Hamilton County Judge Samuel D. McReynolds had evacuated Johnson to Nashville earlier that day. For his safety, Johnson was kept there until the trial commenced.〔"Officers Protect Prisoner," ''The Savannah Tribune,'' February 10, 1906〕 After McReynolds spoke to the mob and promised swift justice through the legal system, the mob reluctantly dispersed.〔Curriden and Phillips, ''Contempt of Court,'' 45-50〕 Johnson was indicted by grand jury on January 26.〔 Sheriff 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.〔Rushing, p. 65-66〕 Johnson was returned to Chattanooga for his trial, which began on February 6 with Judge S. D. McReynolds presiding.〔〔Rushing, p. 66〕 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.〔Rushing, p. 68〕 However, Miss Taylor repeatedly refused to swear that he was the assailant, stating instead that it was her belief that Johnson was the assailant. The trial concluded three days later with Johnson's conviction; he was sentenced to be put to death on March 13. 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.〔Rushing, p. 70〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lynching of Ed Johnson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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