1912 Racial Conflict of Forsyth County Georgia
In the autumn of 1912 in Forsyth County, Georgia two different black on white rapes took place that threw the county into turmoil and changed the region for years to come. First a woman named Ellen Grice claimed to be attacked. Then three days later in the same county another young white woman, Mae Crow was attacked and later died. One black man, Rob Edwards, was lynched in the town square. Later, two black teenagers; Ernest Cox and Oscar Daniel were put on trial and found guilty and later hanged for the crime. Before the trial had even started blacks in the county were being harassed and driven from their homes by a small band of men. Within the next four months an estimated 98% of the black living in the county had left, and in the surrounding counties anywhere from 50% to 100% of blacks were forced from their homes never to return again. It has been called the largest case of black banishment in the history of the United States.
Background
With the American Civil War having ended just 47 years before Blacks were now free, but still not considered equal by most whites. While slavery was abolished, sharecropping was in wide use and confined black farmers to poverty. Just six years before, the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 took place and were still fresh in the minds of residents of the county. A firsthand account from Dr. Ansel Strickland, a doctor in Cumming, said that "hundreds of Black were killed" in a large anti-black riot. The distrust and Lynchings were somewhat commonplace in Georgia and accounts of lynchings from all over the state and south were commonplace in the local papers. Lynchings were seen not only as a method of justice, but of showing dominance and control over the local black population. It was also generally considered to be a deterrent against any future unlawful behavior from the minority population.
Assault and Rape of Ellen Grice
On the night of Thursday September 5, 1912, Toney Howell assaulted and raped Ellen Grice, a 22-year-old white woman married to a highly respected farmer. When Grice's mother opened the bedroom door, Howell, along with his associate Isaiah Pirkle, fled through a window. The victim was left battered and in critical condition following Howell's assault.
Within days, Forsyth County Sheriff William Reid detained the two blacks as well as suspects Fate Chester, Johnny Bates, and Joe Rogers. All five men were placed in the small Forsyth County jail located in the Cumming town square.
Assault on Grant Smith
‘’’Grant Smith’’’, a black preacher at a local Cumming church, made disparaging comments about the victim's character, going so far as to suggest that Mrs. Grice was lying after having been caught in a consensual act with a black man. Outraged whites horse-whipped him in front of the courthouse, and by the time Sheriff Reid rescued him and took him into the courthouse for safety, Smith was near death.
Despite appeals by Sheriff Reid and local ministers for a growing crowd to disperse, angry whites attempted to storm the courthouse. Smith's life was spared by the actions of Deputy Sheriff Mitchell Lummus, who had locked Smith in the large courthouse vault for his safety.
Whites Patrol Streets After Blacks Threaten to Dynamite Cumming
After blacks at a nearby church barbecue threatened to dynamite the town, armed white men patrolled the town to prevent an attack.[1] Fearing a race riot, Governor Joseph Mackey Brown declared martial law and activated 23 members of the National Guard from Gainesville, Georgia, who successfully kept the peace.
Later that day, Sheriff Reid sent Smith, the two rapists, and the other three black suspects to the Cobb county jail in nearby Marietta, Georgia for safety. Fearing that a mob from Cumming was en route, Governor Brown quickly arranged for the prisoners and Smith to be moved again, this time to the Fulton County jail in Atlanta, and no mob materialized in Marietta.[2]
Toney Howell Convicted Following Confession
Toney Howell had already confessed to the assault and rape of Ellen Grice, as well as to Pirkle's involvement, and Howell was tried by a jury of peers and convicted in February, 1913.[3][4]
The Mae Crow Assault
The next day on September 9, 1912 ‘’’Sleety Mae Crow’’’ age 18, was attacked in the afternoon by ‘’’Ernest Cox’’’ age 16 when walking to her nearby aunt’s house near Browns Bridge Road along the Forsyth-Hall county line. According to the 1900 and 1910 United States Census records, Cox was completely uneducated, did not know how to read or write, was separated from his family, and as early as the age of four was not living with his father. Cox struck her from behind and dragged her down a gully in the woods. Crow resisted and nearly pulled a young dogwood tree up by the roots. Cox raped her and struck her at least three times in the head with a large stone crushing in her skull. Cox then told his friends what he had done. They then went to investigate the scene. They were ‘’’Oscar Daniel’’ age 17, Oscar’s sister Trussie “Jane” Daniel age 22, and Jane’s next door neighbor and live-in boyfriend Rob “Big Rob” Edwards age 24. They discussed disposing of the body in the nearby Chattahoochee river but it was decided that it would be too risky to move and left her where she lay.
Arrest of Ernest Cox
The next morning, around 9:00 a.m. searchers found Mae Crow. She was half naked, covered with leaves, and laying face down in a pool of dry blood. Surprisingly she was still alive and breathing shallowly. At the scene of the rape a small pocket mirror was found that was recognized as belonging to Ernest Cox. When neighbors found Cox at home and took him to the Gainesville jail to avoid the recent turmoil just a couple days ago in Cumming. On the way Cox freely confessed to the crime. When word spread of the Crow attack a lynch mob began to form that afternoon at the Gainesville jail. At midnight Cox was taken by car to Atlanta to prevent a lynching.