On July 25, 1946, in a remote corner of Georgia, one of the most atrocious mass murders in the history of lynching in the United States claimed the lives of two young couples. Nearly sixty years later, the outrage still simmers while some hope that yesterday's reenactment of the crime might result in a renewed effort to bring the members of the mob--however many may yet be alive--to justice.
The sordid tale began when a black man named Roger Malcolm, 27, was arrested for stabbing his former employer, a white man named Barney Hester, Jr. A wealthy planter named J. Loy Harrison posted a bond for Roger Malcolm's release. Harrison was taking Roger Malcolm, his wife Dorothy, her sister May Dorsey and her husband George Dorsey back to his farm when their car was waylaid in a rural section of Walton County by a mob of 20 to 30 white men. While the mob held Harrison and the two women at gunpoint, Roger Malcolm and George Dorsey were bound and dragged down an old wagon road. Then one of the women recognized a member of the mob. The mob's leader, later described as a tall, dignified white man who might have been a retired businessman, cried out, "Get those damned women out, too." They were dragged shrieking from the car. Both couples were tied to a tree while the mob lined up like a firing squad. On the count of three, they were riddled with gunfire.
Harrison was able to flee and reported the murders to the sheriff. "I didn't have anything but a pocketknife," he later said. "What could I do?"
The four victims were recovered from the side of the road. A coroner later found more than 60 bullets in their bodies.
The crime, dubbed the "Monroe Massacre" or the "Moore's Ford Massacre," outraged the entire country. The U.S. Department of Justice was flooded with tens of thousands of calls for an investigation. Successful fundraisers helped the victims' families pay for their funerals and generated a sizeable reward. The FBI descended on the area and interviewed 2,500 people over a four-month period. But a federal grand jury was not able to indict anyone, because nobody would talk.
Yesterday's reenactment was organized by the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, which hopes that publicity related to the re-enactment and a reminder of the outstanding $25,000 reward will prompt someone to come forward. But it is believed that most of the mob is probably dead, and a district attorney said the case lacks witnesses and evidence.
"I don't even have a name to put on an indictment," he said.
Maybe--it seems quite a long shot, sixty years later--but maybe, after yesterday's reminder, impossible to ignore, he will.
"Four Negroes Massacred By Armed Georgia Mob; Riddled Bodies Left By Roadside; Firing Squad of Mob Mows Down Two Men and Two Women; Federal Probe To Be Held," Harlingen Valley (Texas) Morning Star, July 27, 1946.
"Probe Set In Lynching of 2 Negroes," Syracuse Herald Journal, Dec. 1, 1946.
"Unable to Name Lynching Party," Bradford (Pennsylvania) Era, Dec. 20, 1946.
"Day of 1946 Georgia Lynchings set for re-enactment today," by Errin Haines, Associated Press, Macon Telegraph, July 24, 2005.
"GA Officials Vote to Urge Prosecution of 1946 Lynchings," Atlanta Daily World, July 1, 2005.