Rape Revolvers & Ropes: The heinous 1930 lynching of two black youths and the elusive pursuit of justice

By James Ferrell

Anarchy & Amnesia in Small Town America

In 1930, three joy-riding black youths robbed a young white couple parked on Lover’s Lane. One of the youths shot the white man five times while his girl friend claimed that one of the three raped her. Local law enforcement quickly located the three, interrogated them and locked them up in the county jail. The next day, the white man succumbed to his wounds. That night a mob of angry white-folks stormed the jail and removed all three suspects. They lynched two of the teens and inexplicably returned the third suspect to the jail.

County and state prosecutors began a crusade to locate, prosecute and convict the mob members who hung the two. However, they discovered the whole town had difficulty remembering details. This story also tracks the trial and subsequent life of the surviving sixteen-year old.

The author used dozens of articles from over twenty local, state and national newspapers along with several confidential depositions to reconstruct these events.

After reading this book, one needs to consider what if anything has really changed in America during the past 90 years?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: Sep 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781662901522

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The views and opinions expressed in this book are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of Gatekeeper Press. Gatekeeper Press is not to be held responsible for and expressly disclaims responsibility of the content herein.

Rape Revolvers & Ropes: The heinous 1930 lynching of two black youths and the elusive pursuit of justice

Published by Gatekeeper Press

2167 Stringtown Rd, Suite 109

Columbus, OH 43123-2989

www.GatekeeperPress.com

Copyright © 2020 by James Ferrell

All rights reserved. Neither this book, nor any parts within it may be sold or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020939460

ISBN (paperback): 9781662901539

eISBN: 9781662901522

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Acknowledgements

Figures

Notes

Bibliography

Index

PROLOGUE

THIS BOOK IS a historical account of an incredibly dark era in America. It provides gruesome details about the lynchings of two African-American teenagers in 1930. This book also chronicles the blatant racism that was a part of everyday life in this small midwestern town. Symbols of racism jump out at you throughout this document.

The language will elicit a visceral reaction in most. In 1930, many whites used the most derogatory term available to name blacks. No one in their right mind would use that word today. Yet, this text does. Direct quotes from this era give you, the reader, insight into white attitudes about and treatment of minorities. Some of the opinions expressed by police, reporters, and newspaper editors may shock you.

Others may experience emotional responses when reading newspaper ads that use black-face characters or caricatures of African Americans. The examples in this book are typical of that time in history. Also, there is one photograph of the two youths hanging from a tree that may particularly outrage you. The atrocity captured by this photo is gut-wrenching, yet, it too is part of our past.

The author has chosen not to sanitize the language, images, and photographs of 1930. He believes that it is important for the past to be seen as it was. Any effort to rewrite the human experience is a disservice to society. We will never know where we are going unless we accept accurate historical accounts of where we have been.

(The Latin term [sic] (thus was it written) notes that any potentially offensive language in this text is a direct quotation, all of which are properly referenced.)

CHAPTER ONE

Discovery & Deflection

WHEN I WAS around fourteen, my grandfather told me about his life as a young man in Marion, Indiana when he added, "They hung two niggers ( sic) down on the courthouse square. He explained that two young Negros killed a white boy and raped his girlfriend. My grandmother, who stood no more than four foot seven, gave him the sternest look that I had ever seen. She raised her voice and said, RUSSELL! After her outburst, I could never get him to talk about the lynchings again. Neither of my parents grew up in Marion, so when I asked them, they both said that they did not know anything about it. You will find that not knowing anything" is a thread that runs throughout this historical account.

Many years later, curiosity got the best of me and I began investigating what really happened. Since I didn’t know anything about conducting historical research or writing historical details, I enrolled at California State University in Fullerton, California to pursue a Masters of Arts Degree in History. What I learned in that program gave me the information and confidence I needed to begin researching these events. Unfortunately, at that time I was living in Southern California and Marion, Indiana was about 2,000 miles away. As a result, I made annual trips back to Marion to hunt for the truth.

As I began my search, I found that the Marion Public Library contained a treasure trove of information. In 1930, when the lynchings occurred, Marion had two daily newspapers: The Marion Leader-Tribune and The Marion Chronicle. The Library has retained microfilm copies of every issue of both papers from the mid-1800s to the present. The microfilm spools and readers provided me the details of these events. The Library’s archives also contained copies of other newspaper articles about the lynchings; most of the daily newspapers in towns close to Marion reported on these events as well. This history references all of these papers in the ensuing story. In addition, papers as far away as Chicago and New York also published articles about these incidents.

Since murders lead to indictments and indictments initiate trials, it only seemed logical that the Grant County Court House, located in the center of Marion, contained an extensive array of information related to these legal events. On my first visit to the County Records Office in the Court House, I made the mistake of asking for any records they had that related to the 1930’s lynchings. As soon as the word lynchings left my mouth, the clerk and her assistants looked at me as if I had just blasphemed. They curtly explained that they did not know anything about any records concerning lynchings. They promptly dismissed me from their office.

The next time I visited Marion, my high school and college friend Randy Johnson, a Grant County judge, intervened on my behalf. He called the County Clerk and told her that I needed access to the 1930s records. The Clerk grudgingly led me up a set of rickety stairs to the attic of the Court House. What I found could have been a scene from a horror movie. Cobwebs, bird droppings, and a thick layer of dust covered hundreds of aging and hand-written books of court records that were strewn all over the floor and bookshelves. If I had had weeks rather than hours to scour this room, I might have found what I was looking for. Unfortunately, after searching briefly, I gave up and moved on to my next potential source of information.

My investigation revealed that the court system had moved Cameron’s trial from Grant County to Hamilton County. Hamilton’s courthouse is in Anderson, Indiana. On another trip to Marion, I made the thirty-mile drive to Anderson and entered the County Records Office. Learning my lesson from Marion, I asked if they had any trial records and/or trial transcripts from 1931. Initially, I did not say the word lynching. In our discussion, I finally disclosed that I was searching for information about the hangings. Although extremely friendly, their Records Office had no information for me. The clerks and supervisor offered that they did not know anything about a trial related to a lynching. I knew that I needed to look elsewhere on my next visit to Indiana.

Back home in California, I reviewed all of the information I had collected and discovered that there was an Indiana Historical Archive located in Indianapolis. A year later, on my next trip to Indiana, I visited the Archive. Although this facility did not house any relevant court transcripts, it did have over three hundred pages of depositions that were collected and transcribed shortly after the Marion lynchings occurred. Because these historical records are too long to use verbatim in this book, I quote from some of them to clarify the reports in the newspaper articles. They also provided a look behind the headlines as these individuals gave their affidavits in secret. The authorities did not release these statements to the public until many years after the courts conducted the trials.

Three authors have written books concerning these murders. One of the participants in the murder of the white man, Cameron, composed an autobiographical account of these critical events. However, he waited over thirty years after the event before publishing his recollections. Cameron not only recounted and recorded verbatim conversations that occurred when he was only sixteen years old, but he also related additional detailed recollections about people and events. Little to none of this information can be substantiated, so, I leave it to you, dear reader, to determine the veracity of his statements.

A well-respected New York City writer, Cynthia Carr, who has familial ties to Grant County, also published a book about Marion and the lynchings. Carr attempted to tie most of these events to the Ku Klux Klan. I emphasize the word attempted. In addition, an Indiana University history professor, James Madison Ph.D., with no known ties to Marion, researched and published the third account of these murders. He used the lynchings as the basis of a treatise on historical white-black relations in the United States. He, like Carr, thoroughly documented the sources on which he based his conclusions.

The obvious question that one must ask is, What does this book add to the understanding of these events? I have no intention of weaving a meme or narrative into the story to prove a point. Rather, I began this historical hunt to discover the truth. As my research materials grew, I realized that the chronological newspaper headlines told the story just as Marion’s residents learned about the events. If this book does have a bias, it is to remind the public that three men, not just two, died in August of 1930. So far, the above-named accounts of these events center mainly on James Cameron. He does not die during this era but rather passes as a 90+-year-old man.

Most folks in 1930 received their news from their radios and the local newspapers. This recounting of events allows you to experience this ill-fated episode in Marion’s history as it unravels, just as the residents of 1930 Marion did. In addition, a new generation of workers in both Court Houses provided me relevant information about the indictments in the 1930/1931 trials. However, I could not find any trial transcripts from either county.

CHAPTER TWO

Moderate & Middle-Of-The-Road

IN 1831, THE Indiana General Assembly established Grant County and further named the town of Marion as its County seat. ¹ By 1930, slightly more than 24,000 people called Marion their home. ² Of these, close to 1,900 were Negros. The town sits about halfway between the larger cities of Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. It also neighbors the slightly larger cities of Muncie, Anderson, and Kokomo. The small town of Fairmont (1930 population of 2,000) ³, which plays a prominent role in this narrative, is just a short drive from Marion.

Despite the stock market crash of 1929, Marion did not experience any serious financial impact from these events in far-away New York City. The editor of The Marion Chronicle wrote on August 18, 1930, Marion Up and Coming.⁴ His editorial began, In keeping with the rest of the country, Marion is up and coming. He emphasized the financial stability of the city’s three banks and noted that they have always had cash on hand for their customers. He went on to tout Marion’s manufacturing capability stating that financial conditions have seldom impacted these factories. Finally, he reminded the readers of Grant County’s large agricultural base and added that, … agriculture is the fundamental element in enduring prosperity.⁵

Interestingly, this editorial does not mention that even with a relatively small population, Marion and Grant County supported two daily newspapers. Perhaps he did not want to acknowledge that he had a competitor. This underscores the fact that the local residents relied on these papers as their primary source of news. The Marion Chronicle published an evening newspaper for three cents a copy. The company’s founder started publishing a weekly paper in 1865 and by 1886 issued it daily.⁶ In 1889, the Leader-Tribune Company began publishing the competitive morning newspaper, the Marion Leader-Tribune. In 1930, the paper issued six editions per week, skipping Mondays. For 15 cents a week, the company delivered all six papers to your home.⁷ The folks in Marion also learned of national and international news by watching newsreels.

Marion’s four movie houses typically showed these before their movies. The Indiana, Lyric, Paramount, and LunaLite provided nightly entertainment for their Marion and Grant County patrons. To see a movie, you paid a dime, even if it was a double feature. Attending in the evening cost as much as twenty cents. Most of these theaters also advertised that they had refrigerated air. (Both the Indiana and the Paramount were still around when I was a teenager.) There were also other types of entertainment, many of which were illegal.

In 1930, prohibition was the law of the land. Marion was no different than many other communities throughout the United States. Entrepreneurs in Marion provided liquor in speakeasies and offered wet gambling halls. No one in the historical record explained where these sites were located in town nor do they mention the names of the owners. However, Mayor Jack Edwards, who took office in 1929 at the age of twenty-seven, admitted decades later that there were many places in 1930 where residents of Grant County were able to purchase illegal drinks and gamble. He later noted that in 1930, up to twenty gin joints and speakeasies operated in the city.⁸

Both of Marion’s newspapers’ advertisements provide interesting insights into that era. They show us prices of products and services and, more importantly, they show us acceptable racial boundaries and norms that existed during this period.

The Pennsylvania Railroad offered people at Marion’s railroad depot a nineteen-hour round-trip to Chicago for only three dollars. As you can see, the train left at 3 AM. The notation Next Sunday seems to imply that this was a one-time special deal.⁹ These types of advertisements are displayed to provide insights into the daily life of the residents of Marion in the ‘30s.

This advertisement told Marion’s women that they could buy the most modern styles at low prices.¹⁰ Note that the ad referenced Paris models to emphasize that the latest styles could be purchased without leaving town. You might live in remote Marion, Indiana, but you can still purchase haute couture as if you were in Paris.

Sears, Roebuck and Company reached out to the citizens of Marion with their advertisements, using a headline that is appropriate even for today. Sears implored the public to buy. Their key headline stated, Thrift Does Not Mean Self Denial.¹¹ The ads showcased many new Sears appliances for the 1930’s housewife. The ads touted their modern washing machines and stove appliances. Sears’ new top-of-the-line washer could be purchased for only $5.00 down, with a $7.00 per month payment. Fine print existed in 1930 too, as noted by the tiny note that says, Small Carrying Charge.¹²

Marion’s newspapers also portrayed advertisements that either pushed or crossed today’s racial lines. By today’s standards, one ponders why black-face ads even appealed to consumers in 1930. Regardless of our current sensitivities, these ads did indeed run. Whether they actually generated incremental sales or not is unknown.

The final two ads on the next page may shock you. It is hard to imagine why General Electric believed that a black-face advertisement would help sell its refrigerators. The final ad displays two characters who were familiar to Marion’s citizens of 1930.¹³ Mack and Moran, two white men, spoke in a Negro dialect and carried rifles. This was all part of their black-face vaudeville act, which was recognized throughout the United States.

Their voices were also heard by Marion’s residents when Mack and Moran’s weekly program aired on CBS radio.

The two black birds at the top right of the advertisement tied the characters to their act called The Two Black Crows. Part of their program