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| Postcards of Frank Embree after being whipped |
July 22, 1899, Howard County
Missouri: Today the White anger in the county was finally relieved as a mob
took accused Negro rapist Frank Embree off the train, whipped him, and then hung
him from a tree.
Embree was on the train from
Mexico, Missouri to the county seat of Fayette, Missouri to be tried for the
crime of raping Miss Willie Doughtry a 14-year-old White girl. It was reported
that Embree had pulled the girl off her horse and “ravished” her. Of course,
the crime lit the fuse for all of the White people in Howard County.
From the beginning, Embree swore
his innocence but he was the Black man arrested for the crime so it was as good
as a conviction in Jim Crow. The first reports were that two Black men had
taken the girl from the horse, and the sheriff did arrest a man named John
Brown for the crime. There is no other mention of Brown in the newspapers of
the time, except for a vague mention of a Black man who was whipped 150 times
for helping Embree escape to Garnett Kansas.
Later as the story was cleaned up, apparently, the “Black Brute” who raped Willie Doughtry was also riding a horse and that horse belonged to a man named John Collins who was the uncle of Embree. Several times the sheriff took a posse and searched for Embree and he put a $150 reward out, this reward was matched by Missouri Governor Lon Stephens. Embree was finally tracked down in Kansas on July 3rd. His family and white supporters requested that Kansas Governor William Stanley get a promise of protection from Stephens before allowing extradition. Stanley said he did, and Stephens said he would have never would have agreed
Regardless Embree was brought
back to Howard County and indicted by a grand jury on July 18th.
Knowing that the community was enraged over the alleged crime he had his
deputies take the train at 3:45 am with Embree for trial. What happened next is
somewhat clouded by newspaper reports, Some newspapers reported that while
deputies did take the train they got off at one point and loaded Embree
into a wagon and the wagon was stopped by the White mob, There were also
reports that three times the mob stopped the train and searched it but the
deputies had his themselves and Embree too well.
Whatever the real story was about
the mob kidnapping Embree the result was the same. They took him to the site of
the alleged crime and when just stripping him didn’t get him to confess they
whipped him. This is where one begins to question how a story is reported.
There were reports that Embree swore his innocence up until he had been whipped
nearly 100 times, and flayed open so he was bleeding badly. At this point, Embree begged
for mercy and said he would confess. No reporters were on the scene and no one
was named as a source but it was well known that Embree did finally confess and
beg for the mob not to burn him. Apparently, the alleged victim Willie Doughtry, and her father Wood Doughtry were on the scene so Willie could identify Embree,
which was also questionable since she was not called as a witness at the grand
jury. What swayed the crowd was Doughtry asking them not to burn Embree.
So the mob dropped a rope over a
tree limb and around Embree’s neck then members of the mob pulled him into the
air and choked him to death. They then tied the rope leaving the body hanging. A
coroner’s jury ruled that the deceased came to his death “by parties unknown to
cause his death by parties unknown to us.”
The papers, such as the St. Louis
Dispatch praised the crowd for warning to other “fiends” who may be
tempted to commit horrible crimes. Someone took pictures at the lynching, and
they are very clear. Still, as always no one was arrested or prosecuted for the
murder of Frank Embree.
Sources:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-news-and-intelligencer-embree/151832149/
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