Lynching of Ed Johnson

On March 19, 1906, Ed Johnson, a young <a href="/facts/African_Americans/pTgcAdo8">African American</a> man, was murdered by a <a href="/facts/Lynching/e23NmEsn">lynch mob</a> in his home town of <a href="/facts/Chattanooga%2c_Tennessee/9EscbI6c">Chattanooga, Tennessee</a>. He had been wrongfully sentenced to death for the <a href="/facts/Rape/7RLDwHCN">rape</a> of Nevada Taylor, but Justice <a href="/facts/John_Marshall_Harlan/pS5WLwdU">John Marshall Harlan</a> of the <a href="/facts/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States/rJHothwW">United States Supreme Court</a> had issued a <a href="/facts/Stay_of_execution/8LClW1kE">stay of execution</a>. To prevent delay or avoidance of execution, a mob broke into the jail where Johnson was held, abducted him, and lynched him from the <a href="/facts/Walnut_Street_Bridge_(Chattanooga)/vzgjhDor">Walnut Street Bridge</a>.
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 <a href="/facts/Theodore_Roosevelt/WzUPbcbo">Theodore Roosevelt</a> made it his goal to have the members of the mob imprisoned by directing the <a href="/facts/United_States_Secret_Service/SsbfALvK">Secret Service</a> to participate in the investigation. <a href="/facts/Hamilton_County%2c_Tennessee/BxuVSvN8">Hamilton County</a> <a href="/facts/Sheriff/PnaHhzY9">Sheriff</a> <a href="/facts/Joseph_F._Shipp/lg3GRw7s">Joseph F. Shipp</a>, who had arrested Johnson, and 24 others were charged with <a href="/facts/Contempt_of_court/yJIBGEQN">contempt of court</a> in <a href="/facts/United_States_v._Shipp/lg3GRw7s">United States v. Shipp</a>, the only criminal trial ever held by the United States Supreme Court. Shipp and five others were eventually found guilty, receiving sentence
Johnson, while in jail, made a Christian profession and was <a href="/facts/Baptism/wEY6gtGA">baptized</a>. He publicly forgave those who were about to execute him. On the top of Johnson's tombstone are his final words "God Bless you all. I AM A Innocent Man." 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. <a href="/facts/Lynching_of_Alfred_Blount/3Gmx9Jae">Alfred Blount</a> was the first, thirteen years earlier, in 1893.

Lynching of Ed Johnson open-in-new

Lynching of Ed Johnson