Feb 22, 1898, it isn’t an overstatement to say that just being
a free Black man in the Jim Crow south was enough to cause hate and violent
death.
Such was the case for Frazier Baker the Postmaster for Lake
City, South Carolina. Baker was a former schoolteacher, married and father of 6
children. He was 40 years old and known to a quiet and reserved man who just
attempted to be live and do his job.
President William McKinley had appointed Baker to the position
in July of 1897 and it was met immediately with anger and rancor by Whites in
the community.
In the short time he had been Postmaster, six months, Baker
had received death threats and had been shot at twice, there was a never-ending
series of petitions and letters to officials to have Baker removed.
Baker dealt with these hostilities by writing a record of the
incidents and reporting it all to his superiors, Soon after his appointment Baker
faced a boycott of his post office by the White population and an investigation
by a district inspector, the inspector suggested shutting down the Lake City
post-office but the regional need was felt to be too strong so after Whites burned
down the in town post-office a new one was constructed outside of town where
Baker moved with his family.
This was actually a bit pointless as shortly after the Baker
family moved in the night of Feb. 22 arrived and a mob of over 200 White men
surround the building that acted as both post office and family resident.
The mob began by firing their guns into the house more than 1,000
times before lighting it on fire. Baker’s wife and children ran from the house
and she and one of the children were wounded. When Baker attempted to leave
with his infant daughter he was shot.
The fire was extremely intense and turned the building to ash
and the remains of Baker and his infant daughter Julia. News reports stated
that they had basically been cremated.
Newspapers in the area and of the era were mixed in their reporting
of the crime. Some such as the Yorkville Enquirer reported that Lake City was a
sober and moral town and that the lynching was the fault of McKinley for
promoting a Negro so high above his station, in a position no White could accept.
South Carolina Senator Benjamin Tillman followed this line of thinking
when he said the "proud people" of Lake City refused to receive
"their mail from a nigger."
Other papers though, such as the Watchman and Southron of
Sumter, South Carolina declared that Williamsburg to be stained by such an
atrocious crime. The legendary journalist and lynching activist Ida B. Wells
led protests in Chicago and noted that in this case the murderers didn’t even
attempt to hide their murder under curtain of Southern Chivalry and an
accusation of another crime.
After the coroner recovered what he could and held an inquest
the county attorney did in fact compel a grand jury to hear the evidence of
murder, the grand jury refused any indictments,
The McKinley administration under the direction of the
President conducted a robust investigation of the murder, initially offering a
$1,500 ($48,858 today) reward for the arrest and conviction of members of the
mob. Despite resistance by witnesses to testifying, on 1 July 1898 Federal prosecutors
indicted 7 men on the charge of murdering Baker.
There was a mistrial then, as the all whit jury of ten men was
evenly divided 5 ruling guilty and 5 ruling acquittal. Even with eye witness testimony
of Baker’s wife and statements of some of the suspects, the prosecution did not
seek a new trial.
Today a historical marker stands on the spot of the murder.
Sources:
https://www.newspapers.com/image/529153516/?terms=%22Frazier%20Baker%22&match=1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/339335036/?terms=%22Frazier%20Baker%22&match=1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/668571583/?terms=%22Frazier%20Baker%22&match=1
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