The murder of Robin White: A note on sources
Trial transcripts, newspapers, Census records and convict reports
The murder of Robin White: A note on sources Trial transcripts, newspapers, Census records and convict reports Check out this story on montgomeryadvertiser.com: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2018/04/24/murder-robin-white-note-sources/544592002/
, Montgomery Advertiser Published 12:00 p.m. CT April 24, 2018 | Updated 9:34 a.m. CT April 27, 2018
Title page of the 1901 transcript of the lynching trial of John Thomas, who was convicted of murder in the death of Robin White.(Photo: Alabama Department of Archives and History)
"The lynching of Robin White and the confession of George Howard" draws chiefly from transcripts of the trials of John Strength, Martin Fuller, and John Thomas, conducted in Wetumpka from Aug. 28, 1901, to Aug. 31, 1901. Strength and Fuller were tried together. Thomas' trial followed on their heels. Both documents were found in boxes containing records of pardon applications to the governor's office from Elmore County: The Strength and Fuller transcript was in Strength's file, while Thomas' was wedged into a corner of a box containing the pardon file for Howard, Strength and Fuller.
Both documents have some issues. Neither keeps any record of opening or closing statements (newspapers provided some summary of the latter). The Strength and Fuller transcript is handwritten and sometimes difficult to read in places. And while it distinguishes between direct examination and cross-examination, for the most part it does not preserve the questions asked of the witnesses, which sometimes makes the answers hard to follow.
The Thomas transcript is typed on what appears to be carbon paper, and preserves records of jury selection, the questions asked (and answered) and Judge N.D. Denson's final charge to the jurors. Taken together, the transcripts provide a rare and detailed look at the terrifying events of July 2, 1901 — the violence; the cowardice and Robin White's struggle against the men who would kill him.
The pardon files also included numerous letters written on behalf of Howard, Strength, Fuller and Thomas, including some from family members, and petitions circulated in Elmore County and in some surrounding areas to secure their release.
Abe White's 1902 letter to Gov. William Jelks seeking a pardon. (Photo: Alabama Department of Archives and History)
Abe White's 1902 letter seeking pardon — likely sent in January or February of 1902 — also exists in the files. It is hard to say how much of the letter is White's and how much of it is that of his attorney, D.D. Askew — who signed it in his name — but it preserves at least some of the voice of a black man describing the events leading to and following the lynching of a close family member.
In addition to the transcripts, I also searched contemporary reporting on the case (particularly the Montgomery Advertiser and the Weekly Herald); the official records of Gov. William Jelks and the private and legal correspondence Denson, located at Auburn University. Census records from 1900 through 1940 helped confirm the identities of those involved. Alabama convict records also provided valuable physical descriptions of Abe White, George Howard and John Thomas. In Thomas' case, they also pointed to his fate.
In the course of tracking Howard's subsequent life, I relied on the census and also found his death certificate, issued in Texas in 1957.
The Alabama Department of Archives and History has begun preserving the documents, starting with the Thomas transcript, which has been digitized. I am grateful to the department's staff, who enthusiastically helped me in my inquiries and also pointed me to what proved to be valuable sources of information.
George Howard's death certificate, issued in Texas on Oct. 21, 1957. (Photo: Texas Department of State Health Services via ancestry.com)
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