Randolph County WV Public Records    [Source: Public Documents, Volume 1; By West Virginia; Pgs. 27-31; Publ. 1903 Session; Governor Albert B. White; Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack]   LYNCHING INRANDOLPH COUNTY.   On the evening of the 22nd day of July, 1901. in the town of Elkins, Randolph county, a negro, named Will Brooks, was taken from the possession of the deputy sheriff by a mob and dragged to the city park and there hanged and his body left hanging until ten o'clock of the following day. His crime was that of having shot Chief Lilly of the police force of that city, who was endeavoring to arrest Brooks for disorderly conduct. Brooks drew a revolver and so did the chief, and a duel between the two men ensued Brooks' first two shots took effect, resulting in the death of Mr. Lily the evening of the following day. At the time of Brooks' lynching Mr. Lilly was not dead, and there were faint hopes that his life might be saved. The lynching took place early in the evening in the presence of a large crowd of people.   It was an outrageous affair, and I at once took cognizance of the matter. On the 31st day of July, after getting full information from parties living in the town of Elkins, and after having read the full accounts of the crime in the local papers, I addressed a letter to the sheriff of Randolph County asking for an official report on this case, and stated that it was the duty of himself and fellow officers to have protected the prisoner at almost any hazard.   A letter was also addressed by me on July 28th to the prosecuting attorney of Randolph County, calling his attention to the lynching and the fact that the crowd of people who perpetrated it took no precaution to disguise themselves, and that there would be little trouble in learning their identity. I told him it was his duty as a sworn officer of the State to prosecute every one of these persons and asked for an expression of his views and intentions. I will be pleased to lay the correspondence in this case before the Legislature. Being unable to get any reply from the prosecuting attorney of the county, I wrote him again on the 30th of August, a month later. It was not until the 10th of September that he deigned to reply to my communications, and stated that it would be hard o ascertain who was responsible for the lynching, and still harder to convict them.   I never heard directly from the sheriff, as it was evidently too trivial an affair for him. But on the 5th of September, considerably over a month after I had written the sheriff, the deputy sheriff gave me a statement of the ease, which clearly showed to my mind that the officers were remiss in their duty. As I had no funds to employ detectives, and as our laws for punishing such offenses are so inadequate, I could do nothing more than appeal to the officers of the law to do their duty.   OFFERING OF REWARDS BY STATE. I received a number of personal and confidential letters from well informed persons who stated to me that there would be no prosecution in this case, and that public sentiment would uphold the officers in not prosecuting. The only excuse given for the crime was that there had been a reign of lawlessness at Elkins, and that my predecessor had failed to offer a reward for the apprehension of an escaped murderer; the idea being that the executive of the State, when appealed to offer a reward for a criminal, should do so, whether he has the money to do it with or not. In this connection permit me to say that frequent appeals have been made to me to offer rewards for the arrest and conviction of criminals; but I have no funds at my disposal which enable me to do so. The civil contingent- fund is entirely inadequate for such purposes, and indeed inadequate for the necessary demands of my office. If rewards are to be offered by the State there should be authority conferred and money provided. I felt that this lynching, which was the first in many years in our State, if permitted to go unrebuked, would result in another similar outrage before long in that locality. As a matter of fact, so far as I am advised, no effort of any kind was ever made to bring the lynchers of Brooks to justice.   ANOTHER LYNCHING.   About two or three o'clock on the morning of July 24th, 1902, a year after the lynching at Elkins, officer Wilmoth of the town of Womelsdorf, Randolph county, was called upon to arrest one of a party of negroes who were guilty of disorderly conduct Some seven or eight days prior to this disturbance, six or eight negroes arrived at that point from Washington, D. C, to work on the Coal and Coke railroad. They had with them some disreputable women. When officer Wilmoth went to make the arrest, he found three of the men together and arrested one of them, Harry Lancaster by name, whereupon the other two ran away. The officer and Lancaster started for the lockup, and when on the way, Lancaster being slightly ahead, two Negroes came up behind and some six shots were fired, killing the officer and wounding Lancaster in the arm. The others ran away. An inquest was held during the day and a verdict rendered that Wilmoth was killed by unknown parties. A number of men then gathered and began a search for the murderers and finally, late in the day, found two Negroes, Clements and Carroll, in the woods near the town, and lodged them in the jail at Womelsdorf. They were not identified as Wilmoth's assailants. The prosecuting attorney was sent for, and went to Womelsdorf and remained until about six o'clock in the evening.   After the two Negroes were put in jail they quarreled and "it is said" accused each other of being guilty of the killing of Wilmoth. The jail was guarded by a constable and other guards. About three o'clock that night a crowd composed of some three hundred armed men took Clements from the jail and hung him in the town, he protesting his innocence. The mob then went to the jail and brutally shot Carroll to death. I am informed that several of the leaders of the mob were from the town of Elkins, and rode there for the purpose of participating in the lynching. The excitement was intense, and mobs were scouring that part of the county looking for the escaped' prisoner, Lancaster.   I put myself immediately in touch with the situation, and directed the Attorney General by wire to proceed at once to the scene of trouble, which he did. His instructions were to report to me in writing in regard to the lynching and' subsequent events, which he did fully on the evening of the 28th day of July.   The mob, a day or so after the lynching, in hunting for Lancaster, shot an innocent colored man by the name of Teters in the arm, who was in no wise connected with the crime. All the Negroes were ordered to leave the town of Womelsdorf on the day after the mob killed Clements and Carroll. The reign of lawlessness existed for several days in the vicinity of the town, and there was considerable excitement also at Elkins. This crime was also attributed to the fact that crimes were permitted to go unpunished in the county, and also by some to the fact that the sheriff was young, inexperienced and timid. I appealed to the best element in the county to restore order, and to assist in ferreting out the guilty persons.   REWARDS OFFERED BY GOVERNOR.   I offered a reward, to pay which an appeal to your body for an appropriation is necessary, for the arrest of any persons connected with the lynching. I also offered a reward of $200 for the escaped prisoner, Lancaster, who was wounded by some of the shots that were intended for the police officer. Subsequently Lancaster was arrested, and is shortly to have his trial, -if not now on trial. A condition of the reward which I offered was that the parties making the arrest should be paid upon certification by the prosecuting attorney. A claim was made on the 9th day of August by certain parties for the reward of $200, which I offered for the arrest of Henry Lancaster, but the reward has not been certified to me as yet by the prosecuting attorney for payment. I ask the Legislature, however, to make an appropriation to cover this reward.   REMEDY FOR LYNCHING.   Unfortunately, in both of these lynching cases the race question figured to some extent. But it is evident that if the good name of the State is to be preserved, some additional powers must be conferred upon the Governor, and that some punishment should be inflicted upon the officers of the law who permit these crimes to take place. In several of our States the Governor has the power to remove the sheriff from office, and the heirs of the killed by a mob have the right of recovery of damages from the county in which the crime is committed. It might be well to also give the Governor the power to remove a prosecuting attorney who does not do his duty in prosecuting cases of this kind.   These two lynching affairs in Randolph County are a disgrace to the law-abiding people of that county, and the fact that public sentiment seems to have sustained those taking part in the lynching, shows that some additional legislation is needed on this subject.   It has been suggested that the judges of the circuit courts be given more power in enforcing the law and in requiring the officers of the law to do their duty. Under the decisions of the Supreme Court the judges of our circuit courts have not the power they should have in requiring officers of their courts and especially prosecuting attorneys to do their duty, and in compelling the sheriff and clerks to execute their orders. There can be no mistake made in giving the judges much more power than they now possess in matters of this kind. I am not prepared to suggest just what form all the remedial legislation on this subject should take, but the Governor ought to be authorized to employ detectives and to spend sufficient money to at least make a vigorous effort to bring the guilty to just lynching is a cowardly crime, subversive of social order, productive of no good result, and leads to other crimes by making criminals of those who hitherto have been law abiding citizens. It was no surprise to those who saw the spirit with which the Brooks lynching was regarded by the good people of Elkins and surrounding country, that a second horrible lynching took place a year later in the same county. There was involved in neither of these lynchings the honor of womanhood, which is so often urged as an excuse for lynching. They were simply cold-blooded lynchings for the sake of lynching. The attention of the Legislature is called to these two cases with the earnest hope that the efforts of the executive to condemn these crimes and bring the guilty to punishment will meet with your approval, and that needed legislation will be passed.   [Source: Public Documents, Volume 1; By West Virginia; Pgs. 27-31; Publ. 1903 Session; Governor Albert B. White; Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack] Copyright © Genealogy Trails