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"The loathsome lynch law whose application
which has always been a common place thing in this country and Is now
unfortunately all to frequently in the border towns neighboring our
country, in which a day doesn't go by that you don't find bodies of
Mexicans hanging from trees like macabre fruit." - A History in Document, Lynching in
America
Project by Lindsey
Phillips and Christine Paterson
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| TWO
CASE
STUDIES |
In 1851, a woman named Juanita was hanged from the Jersey Bridge in Downievelle before several hundred thousand men. She made history when she became the first and only women to be lynched in California’s history. A self-admitted murderer, many historians continue to claim that the hanging was the result of a vigilance committee and not a lynch mob. There was a judge and jury, but many feel that she was not tried by a judge and jury of her peers. Her attorney was disposed of when he started to question the proceedings.
Apparently an Englishman named Fred, (or Joe) Cannon had come to her house or tent in the middle of the night. He returned later to apparently apologize but he called her a puta or a whore. She then dared him to call her that again, explaining that he if did, she would kill him. Taken aback, he entered her home and did. She stabbed him in the heart and killed him instantly.
She was immediately arrested, tired and hung all within a few hours. When asked if she was sorry she reported that she would do it again of so provoked.
DBQ'S
Do you think that she received a fair trail?
Based on the presented "evidence" was she lynched by a mob or
was she hung by a vigilance committee?
Do you think that she received a fair trail?
Based on the presented "evidence" was she lynched by a mob or
was she hung by a vigilance committee?
At 12:30 a.m. a mob of between 50 and 200 masked men entered the city jail, overpowered the guards and took three prisoners. They took the men to the Franklin cemetery in Santa Rosa California in December of 1920. It was reported that it took only fifteen minutes from the time they men were removed form the jail to when they were hung form an oak tree.
There were two Anglo men and one Latino. Their names were George Boyd, Terrance Fitts and Charles Valento. The three men were reportedly part of the Howard Street Gang that had plagued San Francisco the months before the event. The gang was accused of kidnapping and assaulting young girls. Some detectives caught up with them and a shootout took place. The detectives were killed in the process. On the day the detectives were buried, the angry mob stormed the jail.
DBQ's
Do you think the men deserved to be lynched even though they were guilty?
Why do you think they didn't recieve a fair trial?
D