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Gordonsville, Virginia, negroes killed...
Gordonsville, Virginia, negroes killed...
Item # 718925
May 16, 1936
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, May 16, 1936
* Negroes - William & Cora Wells
* Racial violence - mob lynching ?
* Gordonsville, Orange County, Virginia
The top of page 3 has a one column heading: "NEGRO, HIS SISTER SHOT AND BURNED; HE KILLED SHERIFF" with subheads and related photo. (see images)
Complete with 20 pages, light toning and some wear at the margins, mainly along the spine with some small binding holes, generally good.
background: On May 16, 1936, a violent and controversial confrontation unfolded near Gordonsville, Virginia, when Sheriff William B. Young and a state patrolman arrived at the home of William Wells, a 65-year-old Black man, to serve a warrant reportedly related to a lunacy hearing. Wells, who was known to be a gun collector and deeply distrustful of authorities, fatally shot the sheriff and wounded the patrolman, prompting a swift and intense response. A large posse of police and armed townspeople, some reports estimating a crowd of 5,000, surrounded the Wells property. As tensions escalated, the posse set fire to the house, and both William and his sister, Cora Wells, died—either from gunfire or in the resulting blaze. While officially framed as a tragic consequence of resisting arrest, later interpretations suggest the incident may have had racial and economic motivations, with some sources alleging that local officials sought to seize the Wellses' land for a cemetery expansion. The event remains a chilling reflection of the racial violence, mistrust of authorities, and land disputes that marked the Jim Crow South.
Category: The 20th Century
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$52.00
