Thirteen Loops: Race, Violence, and the Last Lynching in America

Introduction: Braiding the Rope

INTRODUCTION Braiding the Rope The hangman’s knot is not a difficult knot to learn. First, make a U-shaped bight, then a second bight, then an N-shape. Next, take the working end around the bight until it turns back in on itself . Work away from the noose, wrapping the desired number of loops around the coil. Pull down. Tighten. Constrict. This information is readily available onWikipedia,alongwith a helpful illustration. “Each additional coil adds friction to the knot, which makes the noose harder to pull closed or open,” the website explains. “The number of coils should therefore be adjusted depending on the intended use, the type and thickness of rope, and environmental conditions such as wet or greasy rope. Six to eight loops are normal when using natural ropes. One coil makes it equivalent to the simple slipknot.” If I know how to tie a simple slipknot, do I know how to tie a noose? There were thirteen loops on the hangman’s knot around Michael Donald’s neck. AccordingtoWikipedia,itmusthavebeenadifficultknottopullopen. 

*/530%6$5*0/ t People are hanged for any number of reasons. They are hanged for arson, they are hanged for robbery, they are hanged for suspected robbery. They are hanged for assault, for attempted assault, for incendiarism, for suspicion of rape, for attempted rape, for alleged rape, for rape, for burglary, for wife beating, for suspected murder , for attempted murder, for alleged murder, for alleged complicity in murder, for murder, for barn burning, for alleged barn burning, for self-defense, for poisoning mules, for poisoning wells, for alleged well poisoning, for insulting whites, for debt, for no offense, or for being black, among various other offenses. In 1893, Alabama registered the most hangings for the year at twentyfive , followed by twenty-four in Georgia, eighteen in Louisiana, seventeen in Mississippi, fifteen in South Carolina, ten in Tennessee, ten in Virginia, eight in Texas, eight in Kentucky, seven in Arkansas, seven in Florida, three in Missouri, two in Kansas, three in Illinois, one in New York, and one in Indian Territory. Yet the total of one hundred and fifty-nine reported lynching victims of 1893 was dramatically dwarfed by the two hundred and forty-one from the previous year. Listed beneath their crime, journalist Ida B. Wells recorded their names, as well as the date of their hanging and the city in which they were hanged. Benjamin Jackson of Jackson, Mississippi, was an alleged well poisoner , so he was hanged on September 15, 1893. Charles Martin of Shelby County, Tennessee, was charged with no offense, so he was hanged on July twenty-first of that year. On Christmas Day, Calvin Thomas was hanged near Bainbridge, Georgia, for assault. A month prior, on November 4, Edward Wagner, William Wagner, Samuel Motlow, and Eliza Motlow allegedly burned a barn, so they #3"*%*/(
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 were hanged in Lynchburg, Virginia, comprising 40 percent of the total number of people officially hanged in the state that year. Sometimes the sheer number of names makes it easy to forget that once these were real people. But they were. The Wagners and the Motlows were real people. And then they were hanged. Allegedly, they’d burned a barn. t In 1930, on a cool summer night in Marion, Indiana, Tom Shipp and Abe Smith were hanged for allegedly raping a young white woman and murdering the man she was with. A third person—sixteen-year-old James Cameron—was accused of the same crime. But as the throngs of people began tightening the noose around his neck, they were interrupted. A man—believed to be either the raped girl’s uncle or the head of the local American Legion—stood atop a car, informing the mob of Cameron’s innocence. Others report the man was actually Marion Police Captain Charles Truex, who lied to the crowd in an attempt to save Cameron’s life, claiming the young black boy had only been arrested for stealing chickens. Regardless of his identity, the man said stop so they stopped, allowing the rope to hang limp. Later, it was reported that a woman’s voice had actually called through the crowd, halting the murder, though James Cameron complicated the matter by claiming that it had not been a mortal voice, but rather, belonged to the Virgin Mary. Stranger still, those directly involved in the mob didn’t recall hearing a voice at all. 

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