"The present work is a substantial revision of our earlier work entitled No Crooked Death, published by the University of Illinois Press in 1991"--Introduction.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-158).
Contents
"That quiet sabbath evening" -- "A conspiracy of silence" -- "A disgraceful travesty of justice" -- "To humiliate the administration of justice" -- "An American tragedy."
Summary
"On a warm August night in 1911, Zachariah Walker was lynched--burned alive--by an angry mob on the outskirts of Coatesville, a prosperous Pennsylvania steel town. At the time of his very public murder, Walker, an African American millworker, was under arrest for the shooting and killing of a respected local police officer. Investigated by the NAACP, the horrific incident garnered national and international attention. Despite this scrutiny, a conspiracy of silence shrouded the events, and the accused men and boys were found not guilty at trial. On the 100th anniversary of the lynching and the 20th anniversary of the books original release as No Crooked Death, authors Dennis B. Downey and Raymond M. Hyser bring new insight to events that rocked a community."--Page [4] of cover.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [163]-169) and index.
Summary
An African American steelworker, Zachariah Walker, was burned to death by a mob outside Coatesville, PA, on August 13, 1911. He was accused of killing Edgar Rice, a white security guard and a former borough policeman. Nationwide outrage led to the NAACP's national anti-ynching campaign and inspired Pennsylvania's 1923 anti-lynching law.
Chapter 1- Tells of the events at the time of the lynching; Chapter 2- Talks about the community reaction to the murder, the investigation, and the Grand Jury indictment of 15 men and boys; Chapters 3 & 4- Discusses the 8 months of trials that failed to convict any of those charged; Chapter 5- Discusses the lynching and it's relationship to demographic and social changes taking place in Coatesville and the nation.
