Lynchings in Florida

 

 
Aug. 2, 1910, Alexandria Gazette.

Aug. 2, 1910: Alexandria (Va.) Gazette.

Aug. 4, 1910, Lynching
The Times, Aug. 4, 1910.

Aug. 5, 1910, Mahoning Dispatch
Aug. 5, 1910: Mahoning (Ohio) Dispatch.

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Aug. 9, 1910: Bisbee (Ariz.) Daily Review.

Aug. 2-9, 1910: It’s a bit difficult to track down the original story about Bessie Morrison (possibly Bessie Mae Morrison), who was evidently killed in Florida. In trying to find further information, I stumbled across a book titled “100 Years of Lynchings,” which seems to be a compilation of news stories.

According to this transcription from the Holmes County (Fla.) Advertiser, three blacks were lynched but there were no further hangings, despite news stories to the contrary. 

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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times
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2 Responses to Lynchings in Florida

  1. T's avatar T says:

    Bessie is my cousin and all of this story is true.
    It was a brutal murder,her body was dumped in a lake a dead wood stacked on top of her to conceal her body.

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  2. The story was in the New York Times on July 31st 1910, but it misidentified the city as Boniface rather than Bonifay:
    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A01E7DA1239E433A25752C3A9619C946196D6CF&scp=41&sq=florida+lynched&st=p
    Other Florida lynchings reported in the NYT:
    http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2011/02/lynchings-in-florida-1881-1935.html

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