Lynching of Ed Johnson

rdf:langString Lynching of Ed Johnson

rdf:langString On March 19, 1906, Ed Johnson, a young African American man, 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 abducted and lynched him from the Walnut Street Bridge. 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 the following day. After the murder, President Theodore Roosevelt made it his goal to have the members of the mob imprisoned by directing the Secret Service to participate in the investigation. Hamilton County Sheriff Joseph F. 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 execute 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 was the first, thirteen years earlier, in 1893.