On April 13, 1937, Roosevelt Townes and Robert McDaniels, two black men, were lynched in Duck Hill, Mississippi, United States, by a white mob after being labeled as the murderers of a white storekeeper. They had only been legally accused of the crime a few minutes before they were kidnapped from the courthouse, chained to trees, and tortured with a blow torch. Following the torture, McDaniels was shot to death and Townes was burned alive.
Pictures taken, prior to Townes being lit on fire, were the first lynching photographs to be published by the national press. They were reprinted in Time Magazine and Life Magazine, and then in national newspapers.
Background
Duck Hill
In December 1936, the greater rural Duck Hill area had a population of about 2,750, while the town of Duck Hill had fewer than 550 inhabitants, with the greater Duck Hill area accounting for under 20 percent of Montgomery County's population. The town of Duck Hill accounted for a little over 3 percent of the county's population, respectively.
The county had recently commenced the first legal hanging in its history six months prior, when Wilson Pullen, a white man, was convicted of murdering his landlord, Dave McClelland. Pullen was the first white man to hang in the state "in several years." The county also had experienced two murders, in three months, across its 20-mile radius.
At the time, the state of Mississippi led the country in homicides. At 26.2, its homicide rate was the first state to cross the 25 rate mark ever, and its 512 homicides were more than the total number of homicides in 15 states combined. Nearly 80 percent of those murdered were black.
A number of the state's murders were recorded as "trivialities" between known persons, including a disagreement over five cents, an argument over the cutting of a birthday cake, and a disagreement over killing a rabbit. In almost half of the murders, whiskey was involved. In August 1936 over 300 gallons of moonshine was confiscated from Montgomery County—it was on record as being the largest such confiscation in the state.
At the time, while the average per capita income for the nation was about $575 per year (approximately $10,500 in 2019), it was just over $215 (approximately $4,000 in 2019) for Mississippi, ranking the state last in the country. Per capita income in Montgomery County is estimated to have been about 20 percent less than the average for the state, while Duck Hill's per capita income was estimated to have been 30 percent less than the average for the county. The estimated average income per capita of blacks in Montgomery County was more than 30 percent less than whites. And more than 25 percent of black adults in the area were illiterate, where the state spent five times more on white school children than black children, and where black children only spent an average of 15–20 weeks a year in school as they were often relegated to helping their sharecropping families.
The Montgomery County Sheriff, Edgar E. Wright, had a 7th-grade education. The sheriff in the adjacent county of Grenada, D.W. Dogan, had a 10th-grade education.
Murder of George Windham On December 30, 1936, George Sam Windham, a 40-year-old crossroads county grocer, was standing in the back of his store, six miles east of Duck Hill, Mississippi, eating sardines and crackers for dinner.
Windham was "mysteriously" shot with a 12-gauge shotgun, allegedly through the store's window screen. However, at least one newspaper reported that Windham was shot in front of his store, rather than through the window screen. The discharge hit his right shoulder and neck. He was still alive when he was found, but died en route when taken to get medical attention.
Investigation On December 31, the day after the murder, Sheriff Edgar E. Wright stated that Windham's store had been "ransacked" and his pockets had been "turned wrong-side out". It was reported that Windham's cash register had been robbed of $350 ($6,500 in 2019); though by April, that amount would be adjusted down to $200 (about $3,700 in 2019).
Bloody footprints were also found in the store. Sheriff Wright went on record stating that the footprints were the only clues to the murderer found in the store. However, Sheriff Wright would later state that he did not believe the "footprints or any of the evidence found in the store at that time, to be worthwhile." It was never clarified as to whether the bloody footprints were, in fact, those of Windham's in his own blood.
Windham lived with his family in the rear of the store, but he reportedly was alone when he was attacked. His wife and two children were said to be "away" for the Christmas holidays.
On January 1, the Jackson Police, along with bloodhounds, were called on to assist. In addition, broken glass and Windham's cash register were sent to a lab for fingerprints to be lifted. Jackson Police Inspector Audis E. Crawford maintained that "good [fingerprint] impressions would be obtained." However, the authorities did not state any speculated circumstance for the broken glass though Windham had reportedly been shot "through the window screen".
That same day, Sheriff Wright labeled "robbery" as the motive of the murder. Sheriff Wright also declared:
Later that day, two black brothers, Alvie and T.L. Dorrah, were arrested after the bloodhounds reportedly "followed a trail from the scene of the crime to their house some distance away." One of the brothers had been in Windham's store on the day of the murder. Despite admitting there was "no direct connection" between the brothers and the murder, Sheriff Wright "held them for investigation."
Alvie and T.L.'s brother, Elijah, was also arrested after Deputy Sheriff, George Blaylock claimed to have found a "muddy gun" in Elijah's home, which was reportedly the same type used in the killing. Blaylock did not state what type of gun he found in Elijah's home, only that the "bullets" for the gun didn't match those used in the murder. However, a 12-gauge shotgun accepts all 12-gauge shells. Blaylock did not state why the found gun, and the "bullets" used in the murder, did not match.
Elijah's friend, 21-year-old, Joe Ed McDaniels, was also arrested with Elijah. The two were arrested because they were inhabiting a house close to Elijah's brothers, which happened to be "where the bloodhounds ended their trail."
Sheriff Wright handed Elijah and Joe Ed to George Windham's brother, Gus, allowing him to have unaccounted for time with the men. Gus Windham would later drop the men off at the neighboring county jail in Grenada, where Elijah and Joe Ed—who maintained that they "didn't know nothing" about the crime and calling Windham, "a fine man"—reportedly declined to be in a cell together.
No charges were placed on the four men, and Sheriff Wright stated that he would keep them detained "indefinitely."
On January 3, a report began circulating that a white man had been arrested in connection with the murder. However, Sheriff Wright dismissed that report and stated that Alvie Dorrah was the "number one suspect." Maintaining his innocence, Dorrah cried and reiterated that black people in the area loved "Mr. Sam" [Windham]." He pleaded, "Heaven knows I'm innocent."
That same day, Sheriff Wright stated that there were other people "under suspicion" and that he "expected a break [in the case] soon." Wright also reiterated his belief that the crime was premeditated and "committed by a person familiar entirely with Windham's store and habits."
In the four weeks following the crime, eight black men had been detained without charges, six of whom were held in jail for at least two weeks.
In addition to Joe Ed McDaniels, and Alvie, T.L. and Elijah Dorrah, 55-year-old Leroy Weldon, and 35-year-old Bit Reed, were detained for several weeks because they were "in the vicinity" of Duck Hill on the night of the murder searching for some cows that had strayed. On January 23, Townes' 24-year-old brother-in-law, Jess Mack, was also arrested and detained for "harboring a fugitive" when stating that his brother-in-law had visited with him in the time since Windham had been killed. In addition, on January 29, a black man was detained by police officers in New York City because he "fit the description" of Townes.
However, Sheriff Wright shifted the focus onto Roosevelt Townes, a 25-year-old black man. Townes had reportedly escaped from the Grenada County Jail—with a white fellow prisoner—two weeks (or three days) prior to the murder, where he had been imprisoned for allegedly stealing corn.
Roosevelt Townes Roosevelt "Red" Townes was originally from Hernando, Mississippi. In December 1936, the 25-year-old was living with his wife five miles north of Duck Hill in Elliot, where he had recently contracted with 67-year-old Micajah Purnell Sturdivant—a white man from Vance—to be a sharecropper on Sturdivant's property. Sturdivant's plantation was overseen by 25-year-old white man Howard Prestage.
Prestage claimed to have become "suspicious" of Townes after determining that Townes had more money on him than he thought Townes should have. Prestage did not state this suspicious amount. However, Prestage allegedly contacted Sheriff D.W. Dogan, of Grenada County, about the money. Dogan immediately ordered Prestage to arrest Townes.
Prestage approached and accused Townes, ordering another black man to search Townes while Prestage held a gun on him. However:
Prestage claimed to have shot at Townes, several times, but missed. It was reported that, on the night that Townes ran, he snuck back on the property to get his wife, officially making them both fugitives. However, given Townes had allegedly escaped from prison, and murdered Windham days earlier, it was not reconciled how he "became" a fugitive when he already was a fugitive.
At some point, Sheriff Edgar E. Wright became adamant that Townes "had something to do it" [Windham's murder]. However, he did not state what led him to that conclusion. For example, he stated no connection between Townes and Windham or, given most black people did not have cars or access to them at the time, state how Townes would have been in the car the neighbors allegedly heard. However, on January 19, Townes was officially accused of the crime. A $500 reward was offered for his capture.
On January 20, The Clarion-Ledger printed that unnamed "officers" said that "circumstantial evidence pointed strongly to Townes being the murderer."
It was never stated when Townes was arrested for corn theft, or how long he remained in jail before escaping. It was not reported as to why Mr. Prestage was not aware his employee was a fugitive if Townes had allegedly escaped jail more than two weeks before Mr. Prestage called the police. It also was not reported from whom, or from where, Sheriff Wright thought Townes allegedly stole the gun. No murder weapon was ever reported found. Nor was the name, or existence, of the accomplice "other negro" ever reported.
Conversely, while on January 20, it was reported that Townes had escaped jail two weeks before the murder, the timing contradicted with the April 6, by the same newspaper, which stated that Townes escaped "just three days" before the murder.
Kidnapping and lynching Sheriff Edgar E. Wright obtained a "small Kodak 10-cent snapshot of Townes" and sent it to the Jackson Bureau of Investigation where "the tiny picture was enlarged." One hundred copies were printed and sent them to "all police departments around the south."
On April 2, Townes was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee. The Memphis Police Department questioned Townes and arrested him and attributed the following confession to him:
On April 5, the Memphis Police Department then released him to the police department of Jackson, Mississippi for "safekeeping," with its "mob-proof" county jail.
On April 6, Sheriff Wright claimed that, while Townes was in his custody, Townes had confessed to shooting Windham.