Legacy of a Lynching Columbia Remembers Racial Injustice by BARTON GROVER HOWE

DIGITAL REPRINT ISSOURIAN MColumbia, Missouri May 3-8, 2003 Legacy of a lynching Columbia remembers racial injustice BY BARTON GROVER HOWE

5-part series Part 1 An attack in black and white, 2 Part 2 Different definitions of justice, 4 Part 3 And no one lived happily ever after, 7 Part 4 Successes and secrets, big and small, 10 Part 5 The next generation and lessons learned, 12

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 2 An attack in black and white ames T. Scott looked at the crowd following her. gathered on the Stewart Street She decided something was wrong bridge. Screaming, yelling, they and started to cross into the woods to Jwanted justice. the south rather than walk back up the Amazingly, he was surrounded by tracks and pass the man. She began to other community leaders. Next to him climb the slope out of the ravine. was a But it was too late. former city councilman, nearby, a The man grabbed her by the arm. banker. There were even a few fellow He forced her farther into the woods. veterans of the Great War gathered. He told her, “A white man stole my They, too, were calling for a killing. wife, and I am determined to get even He’d seen a university professor beg and made up my mind to ruin the first them to stop, but they wouldn’t. A local white woman I got a chance at.” reporter had tried as well. But Scott With her umbrella, she smashed the watched as the mob continued. man about the face and head, break- Characters As he watched, a pair of hands ing the umbrella into pieces. But it was James T. Scott reached out and grabbed him. no use. He pulled a belt from his pant Prominent black resident They hoisted Scott to the rail of the loops and tightened it around her neck, of Columbia, decorated for bridge. What had begun under this very then punched her in the face several valor in World War I. He bridge eight days ago would be over times. He then pulled a knife and told 1 in seconds, unless someone could stop her he would use it if she made any was accused of the attack those giant, white hands. noise. on Regina. n n n On the tracks below, a small MKT What has become an 80-year-old leg- railroad work crew passed by on a Regina Almstedt acy of secrets kept and revealed began handcar. Despite the belt around her 14-year-old Columbia at about 3:30 p.m. April 20, 1923. Regi- neck, Regina screamed to get their High School student. She na Almstedt was walking quickly west attention. Her assailant quickly stuffed was attacked under the on Maple Street, which led to Stewart a handkerchief in her mouth. Stewart Street bridge in Road and the bridge over the MKT rail- She continued to struggle. Hoping April of 1923. road tracks. A 14-year-old sophomore robbery was his true motive, she man- at Columbia High School, her music aged to free a 50-cent coin from her lessons were on the other side of town, pocket and fling it to the ground. He Hermann Almstedt closer to the university. told her he did not want the moneybut University of Missouri Her dress flapped lightly as she got up and took it anyway. professor of German from walked. The temperature was in the He asked her if it would be necessary 1901 to 1942. Father of low 70s, and even though it hadn’t to tie her to a tree or if she would wait Regina, he tried to save the rained for weeks, she carried an there while he got away. She told him life of James T. Scott. umbrella; in the spring, weather could she would wait. be unpredictable. As soon as he was out of sight, she Charles Nutter She was only a few blocks from her ran up through the woods, heading University of Missouri home on Garth Street when a black for her parents’ house. Suffering from student and Columbia man approached her. He said he needed bruises and cuts on her head, face and Evening Missourian her to come into the ravine because body, she began to slip into shock. She reporter. He covered there was a baby down near the rail- is thought to have fainted twice along road tracks. the way, a distance of four to five Scott’s lynching and Regina was a baby sitter to many blocks. tried to save Scott’s life. local children. She reasoned it might be When she finally arrived home, she one of the children she cared for, so she told her parents what had happened. George Barkwell started down the slope into the 30-foot- There was no doubt in their minds the City contractor, business- deep ravine. assault had taken place; her injuries man and former city coun- At the tracks, Regina still could see were obvious, and the state of shock she cilman. He was accused of no one. She followed the tracks around was in would have been hard to fake. playing a larger role in the the bend to the west but could still find But more than that, professor Hermann lynching. nothing. By now, the man had come B. Almstedt had raised his daughters to down into the ravine and seemed to be tell the truth. It was inconceivable that

Editor’s Note This story of the people and events surrounding the lynching of James Scott in 1923 is based on newspaper accounts published at that time, written oral histories of people who recall the event, records from local history archives, scholarly research papers, interviews with people who remember the events and their surviving family members, and discussions with local historians. All quotes and dialogue used in the recreation of the event are from newspaper accounts written at the time of the incident.

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 3

she would lie to the famously stern Restaurants, churches and even professor. a theater opened in and around n n n the area. The Frederick Douglass Professor Almstedt had been School opened a new building in a serious man as long as anyone 1916. By the 1920s, more than half could remember, a product of his of Columbia’s black population Teutonic German upbringing. owned their own homes. He graduated from the Univer- For many of the older black sity of Missouri in 1895, Phi Beta citizens, times had certainly Kappa, and was the first valedicto- changed. A former slave owned rian to speak in the new Jesse Hall. a blacksmith shop in Columbia In 1901, he returned to the universi- in the 1920s and marveled at the ty to help build a new German stud- improvements in his world. ies department. Within six years, he But if the early 20th century was head of the department. had proven a leap forward for He married a woman from Eng- the black residents of Columbia, land in 1906, and they started a the end of April 1923 marked a family the next year. Within 10 giant step backward. Even though years, their family had expanded to Columbia’s black population let the six, with daughters Ruth, Regina, newspapers know they were out- Margaret and Elsa. As in his own Photo courtesy of State Historical Society of raged at the attack, the pursuit of Missouri. upbringing, professor Almstedt justice nearly brought Sharp End brought discipline to the household. Regina Almstedt in her senior to a standstill. Sitting at the head of the din- photo from Hickman High School. Rain, which had been absent ner table, he would issue orders: Two years earlier, she was that spring, made a return the “Knees runter,” knees under attacked near the Stewart Street day after the attack, pouring all the table; “Ellbogen vom Tisch,” Bridge. day April 21. The attacker’s path elbows off the table. from the ravine to Sharp End was But if there was a severe, academ- God had intervened and helped awash, and any attempt to get ic side of professor Almstedt, there her fight off the attacker. beyond the edge of it was impos- was also a softer one. He loved n n n sible. Other means of investigation music, and he ran the university’s That the attack had not ended would be required. informal program until the 1920s, in rape mattered little to many of Some 1,900 black people lived in when the music program became the people of Columbia. In hushed Columbia in 1923, a sizable portion official. He played the organ at the tones, people talked about what of Columbia’s 10,392 people. Police Calvary Episcopal Church on Ninth had happened to the Almstedt girl. crashed through their homes with Street most every Sunday. They tried to warn their children, little warning, brandishing clubs He passed this love on to his trying to say something without and guns. The residents of Sharp children. His two oldest daugh- saying everything. End were besieged. ters, Ruth and Regina, were both But the words were so cloaked in To the white police, nothing was involved in glee club and other hidden meanings, many children going to interfere with the pur- musical organizations at high ended up knowing just enough to suit of their suspect: a black man, school. Both took music les be terrorized. between 25 and 30 years old, wear- sons after school. After talking with professor ing brown trousers, a dark coat and Frequently, the neighborhood Almstedt and his daughter, the cap. children visited the Almstedt police started an all-out search But among the general descrip- home at 211 S. Garth St. They for the perpetrator. They also tors was one distinguishing fea- came to see Regina — their baby brought in dogs, which managed ture The assailant was said to sitter — and to listen and talk to to trace the attacker’s scent down have a Charlie Chaplin mustache. her mother. the tracks. But they stopped at the Like the one worn by James T. The doctor checked Regina edge of Columbia’s black district, Scott. for injuries; she was fine other Sharp End. than minor cuts and bruises and The white citizens of Columbia the immediate trauma. Regina’s knew little about Sharp End and attempts to fight off her attacker saw even less. Brick row housing “Nothing was going had been successful, and other with drying laundry hung between to interfere with than the rips and tears in her the buildings, dirt streets with dress, the rest of her clothes had water running down the sides, small the pursuit of their not been touched. homes with small windows — this suspect...” As that warm spring day ended, was what many of them saw, and it professor Almstedt thought of was all they needed to see. what had almost happened to his But inside Sharp End, a thriv- beloved “Denie.” Clearly, he felt, ing community was developing.

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 4

Courtesy of Boone County Historical Society The Stewart Street Bridge over Flat Branch and the MKT railroad tracks. Regina Almstedt was walking down the hill from campus when she encountered a black man near the eastern end of the bridge. Different definitions of justice nlike many of the black residents of Colum- Douglass School. bia, Scott had never lived in an area bound by Their affluence and jobs made them pillars of the Southern traditions, as mid-Missouri was in black community. Uthe 1920s They lived just two blocks from the Douglass School Born in 1887 in New Mexico, he eventually settled in in a black middle-class neighborhood full of teachers. Chicago. There, he was presumably a widower. He was Their home, at 501 N. Third St., what is now Provi- the father of three children. dence Road, was an easy walk for both of them to About 5 feet 4 inches tall, and weighing 135 pounds, work. he was not a large man. With a soft-spoken voice, he If the idea of being a janitor, forced to burn the car- probably was not the first man people would single out casses of animals used in medical experiments, both- as a leader. ered him, he didn’t show it. James T. Scott sauntered to In his time in Columbia he would become one. A work each day, knowing life was looking good. veteran of the Great War, he had been decorated for On Wednesday, April 25, a witness said he had seen valor, and when he returned to America he sought out Scott on one of those walks. Coming forward to claim a better life. He came to Columbia from Chicago to join a $1,125 reward posted by local business leaders, an his parents sometime around 1920, leaving his children unidentified informant said he had seen Scott near the with his brother. corner of Fourth and Cherry streets at about 4:15 p.m. He found a job at the University of Missouri as a Scott, the informant said, was walking toward the uni- janitor. At a time when most black men were not fully versity with a bundle under his arm. employed, his full-time status at the University Medi- County prosecutor Ruby Hulen considered Scott’s cal Building was prestigious and made him stand out in participation plausible. Co-workers had seen Scott the community. More than that, it provided him with a at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., but no time in between. If Scott 2standard of living above his peers. had attacked Regina at 3:30 p.m., he could easily have Making $65 a month, about 40 percent more than walked the 1.7 miles from the bridge back to his home seasonal black workers could make even when they to change clothes and been at the intersection of Cher- had a job, he could afford things most black men in ry and Fourth streets within 45 minutes. The bundle Columbia, and many white men, could not. He was par- under his arm could have been incriminating clothes ticularly proud of his Hupmobile, bought almost new he was taking to the Medical Building incinerator, for $600. where he worked. His friends called him “Scottie.” He married Ger- Scott was taken with some other detainees to the trude Carter, daughter of a local family, in 1921. She Almstedt home and paraded outside while Regina was a first- and second-grade teacher at the Frederick watched from inside. She identified Scott as her attack-

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 5 No one listened.

er. On Friday, she went to n n n mers and chisels of the of the grossest examples the police station to look To this day, there are mob, a call went out for an of neglect of duty and one more time at the man. two stories of what hap- acetylene torch, and with- cowardice ever laid at the This time, he stood on the pened beginning the night in minutes one arrived. door of Americans.” other side of a pane of of Saturday, April 28. Some thought they saw The leaders of the mob glass, with a bright light Both of them would be George Barkwell, the for- entered the cell. They in his face. told in court months later, mer city councilman, near wrapped a noose around “I never want to see him while different versions of the front of the mob, fid- Scott’s neck and dragged again,” said Regina, with each would be whispered dling with the gas with his him from the cell. Cheers her mother at her side. “I about on the streets and large, white hands. went up from the crowd never want to see his face in the homes of Columbia n n n as he was brought onto again . . .” for years to come. Both of Barkwell was a big man, the jail porch. Knocked She said Scott’s voice them, however, begin the standing well over 6 feet from his feet, he regained matched her attacker’s; same way. tall. He was born in Boone his balance and saw the also, her attacker had a About 10 p.m., men County in 1874, the son of hundreds of people wait- strange smell, like one began to gather near the longtime local family. He ing to see him brought to might pick up working columns at Eighth and did not attend college and vigilante justice. with and disposing of Walnut streets. Approach- married when he was 19. He also saw one face dead animals. ing the sheriff, they asked By the age of 22, he had that he thought could help As a black man accused him to hand over Scott. a daughter, Grace. His him. of a crime against a white He refused, and the men nephew later moved in n n n girl in 1923, Scott was began to disband. with the family, and Bark- Charles Nutter never in a bad position. But he By 11 p.m. they had well considered him an meant to be part of the continued to assert his regrouped, and eventu- adopted son. story. innocence. ally returned to the main By 1920 he was a lead- The 16-year-old son By Regina’s own entrance, intent on smash- ing resident of Columbia. of a poor pig farmer, he account, the attacker had ing down the doors with He owned a successful had arrived in Columbia been beaten fiercely about hammers and chisels. By coal and feed store and from Falls City, Neb. in the face and head; Scott’s now, nearly a thousand had also served as a city 1918. With virtually no face was clear of injury. people — businessmen, councilman. He was also money, he had to work Her attacker said a white housewives, students, chil- a contractor with the city, for two years before he man had stolen his wife; dren, even a few blacks — and he and his daughter could afford tuition to Scott was happily mar- had gathered to see what — one of the only female Missouri’s School of Jour- ried. was going to happen next. contractors in Missouri — nalism. Scott was charged with Calls were made to the had a good life. Nutter eventually began attempted rape, which governor and the National Barkwell was also a writing for the Columbia carried a sentence any- Guard to prevent Scott’s leader of those who fought Evening Missourian. He where from five years removal from the jail. No against black rights and was a good writer, and by to death. Scott knew he one ever arrived. equality. His views were 1923 he was a stringer would need an attorney They were asked by the well known. People knew for the Kansas City Star, for his arraignment. He sheriff and Hulen to stop. he thought blacks should sending stories back west hired one, who filed a plea No one listened. be kept in their place. when something of import of not guilty for his client. An estimated 500 men Some even called him a happened in Columbia. Scott was then led back were crammed into the radical. This didn’t happen to the county jail, just corridors, trying to get at By 12:30 a.m., Bark- often. behind the courthouse. Scott. Some of the most well and the mob had cut In 1923, Columbia was a To pay his legal bill, he recognizable men in town, down the first door. The fairly quiet place. Indeed, gave his attorney the title they included bankers, second one fell quickly in some ways, Columbia to his 1920 Hupmobile. If store owners, a relative of thereafter. Throughout it was at last beginning to that seemed a steep price Columbia’s chief of police, all, members of the mob resemble the city it would to pay, Scott had no other and even a former city called each other by their eventually become. The choice. His believed his councilman. first names. Police and city’s traditional southern life depended on getting a When the first of sheriff’s officers looked roots were finding a bal- fair trial. two steel doors proved on, doing nothing. Some- ance with the university’s He was wrong. impregnable to the ham- one later called it “one more liberal population;

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 6 Columbia was once the scene of lynching.

the “Border War” with a law-abiding town, such mob set off down Seventh Columbia were repre- the University of Kansas as Columbia is now, was Street, turning right on sented, though the few seemed the city’s largest ever the scene of a lynch- Cherry Street, and then blacks who had gathered conflict. ing?” continuing south along quickly dispersed. Unlike Even on the issue of That night Nutter Sixth Street, past the the rest of the crowd, race, things seemed to believed it, as Scott university campus. They they had no desire to see be settling. Though black turned to him and turned right on Maple a lynching. residents did not have all begged for his help. Street, now Stewart Scott was dragged onto the rights of white ones, “I am not guilty, I Road, and dragged him the bridge, but the rope their culture and commu- swear it,” Scott said, out onto the bridge. his attackers had around nity were growing year looking right at Nutter. Nutter saw all of his neck was too small after year. The white “But I have no chance.” this, walking with the and short for the purpose community and black At the same time, pros- mob, and staying close they had in mind. They community were increas- ecutor Hulen and the to Scott. Twice he saw sent someone to get a lon- ingly at ease with one local judge were promis- them knock Scott off his ger rope. another, and the racial ing swift justice after a feet and drag him along Within minutes, a man turmoil of years past trial and begging for any the street by the noose forced his way through seemed behind them. In one of the thousands of before he could regain the crowd. It was Profes- the 1920 Columbia Eve- spectators to help stop his footing. sor Hermann Almstedt. ning Missourian, a head- the men holding Scott. As the mob arrived at He had come to save line noted, “COLUMBIA The response of the mob the bridge, more than the life of James Scott, WAS ONCE THE SCENE was swift. 2,000 people greeted the man accused of try- OF LYNCHING: How “Take him to the Stew- them, having driven ing to rape his daughter. many people in Columbia art Street bridge! Hang their cars from the today would believe that him!” And with that the courthouse. All parts of

A 1920 Hupmobile, the type of car James T. Scott drove and later traded in to pay for his trial lawyer. He was one of the few men in Columbia, of any race, to own a car.

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 7

Professor Benjamin Almstedt, in 1910, about a decade before the lynching. A professor and MU alum, his daughter Regina was attacked near the Stewart Road Bridge in 1923. Photo courtesy of University Archives, Collection

And no one lived happily ever after rofessor3 Hermann B. Almstedt walked into the mob gathered at the Stewart Street bridge He was trying to stop the lynching of James Scott and combat the Pone thing that had personally marred his years in Columbia: racism. A teacher of German, Almstedt found his classes and his heritage under attack in the years leading up to World War I. When the United States joined the war, he found his classes canceled. He was able to teach other classes, and his job was never in jeopardy. But the cancellations stung. As he moved into the top of the university hierarchy, it was an experience he could not forget, not even tonight. He walked down to the Stewart Street bridge alone. From a nearby fraternity house, he could hear the young men sing- ing “The Same Old Moon Shines Down On You.” On any other night, it would have been nice. He approached the bridge and walked onto it. Although he was an imposing man to his family and on campus, here, he was one man against a mob. Surrounded by the crowd, he began to speak. “We think you are going too far; you may have the wrong man.” He appealed to them as a parent and as an American. “I am the father of the girl, and I have been wounded to the heart by this very affair, wounded far more than any of you. Do not besmirch your hands with this deed. “As an American citizen, I plead with you to let the law take its course with this man. I ask of you in the name of law and order and the American flag.” Someone from the mob responded quickly, “Shut up, or we’ll lynch you too.” Professor Almstedt knew then this wasn’t about justice for his daughter or keeping a community safe. It was about hatred and racism, and with that, he turned back into the This is the door of Scott’s cell. It was removed by the crowd and walked home. mob that attacked Scott on Saturday, April 28. n n n By now, James Scott was leaning weakly against the rail-

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 8

ing, battered, bruised and And Nutter tried. Just Will thou allow an inno- crowd had gone home. bleeding. He turned to the 20 years old, he tried to cent man to suffer?” The music returned, the crowd and spoke. reason with the mob. He And with that, the warm spring night carry- “I am an innocent failed, just as Almstedt crowd watched as Scott, ing the sounds of a banjo. man. I have a 15-year-old had before him. It was a a small black man, was A full moon bathed Jesse daughter, and it would moment that would stay seized by the hands of Hall in soft light. That, be impossible for me to with him forever. a large white man and and the body of a small commit this crime. I have Within minutes, some- lifted to the rail. Bal- black man dangling above never touched a white one had returned with a anced upon the railing, the railroad tracks. woman in my whole life.” larger rope. Some said Scott was pushed off at His friends called him Pleading, he attempted it was George Barkwell. the shoulders, sending Scotty. to implicate one of his Others said the man just him crashing head-first n n n cellmates. “Ollie Watson looked like George; the through the branches of Reactions to what had — this afternoon, he told former city councilman a tree. happened in Columbia me he did this. His wife himself was on the other As he reached the limit were swift and came and him had been hav- side of the bridge, watch- of the rope, it jerked taut, from around the world. ing some trouble, like the ing but not participating. and a sickening crack None was quicker than girl said the man who Whoever it was, he echoed through the night. that of University of Mis- attacked her told about. slipped the new noose Scott was killed instantly. souri professor Almstedt, My wife never has had around Scott’s neck and Only death could stop the father of the girl Scott trouble with me. Go down tied the other end to the final words that he cried was said to have attacked. and see her. I can prove bridge. Scott knew he had as he was thrown off the On Sunday morning, my innocence, mister.” only minutes to live and bridge, “I am innocent.” just hours removed from He then turned and dropped to his knees, hop- The crowd stood silent the lynching he himself looked directly at Charles ing his final plea would for a few seconds, watch- tried to prevent, he talked Nutter, a reporter for the be heard. ing his body dangle 12 to a reporter: “We want Columbia Evening Mis- “Lord, thou knowest feet above the ravine to forget this trouble as sourian: “I know I haven’t the truth,” he said quietly. below. “That’ll teach ’em,” soon as possible and lift a chance. They won’t lis- “Have pity on an innocent said one onlooker. It was the cloud that has been ten to me. Won’t you say man’ s soul, O Lord. Thou 1:40 a.m. April 29, and by hovering over my home something?” knowest my innocence. the top of the hour, the for a week.

Every story on the front page of the April 30, 1923, Columbia Missourian dealt with coverage of the lynching of James T. Scott. The story also made the front page of many other daily newspapers across the country including The New York Times.

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 9

I believe in law

and order.— Hermann Almstedt “The Negro was abso- banker who had signed for lutely identified by my Barkwell’s bond, and Nut- daughter as being the man ter, the reporter who cov- who attempted to assault ered the story and tried to her. All the time since this save Scott’s life. first happened, I have tried When the trial began, to“ keep any violence from numerous witnesses were being done. As an Ameri- called before the jury, made can citizen, I believe in law up mostly of farmers. Nut- and order. I have tried to ter, the first key witness, keep my daughter quiet said he saw Barkwell slip so she would not make a the noose around Scott’s mistake in identifying the neck and throw him from Professor Almstedt and his wife Elizabeth with their man.” the bridge. children: baby Elsa, and from left, Margaret, Ruth and Then, walking the Smith took the stand later Regina, in 1915. reporter out of the house, and said Barkwell could not he stopped and stood on have committed the crime his porch, leaving the door because he and Barkwell Grace died of a long ill- Gertrude Carter Scott open. “I want to let the sun- were together on the north ness in 1925, just 18 months never recovered from the shine back into my home.” side of the bridge, opposite after the trial. Barkwell’ s killing of her husband. No one who knew the from the place where Scott nephew, whom he consid- After the funeral on May Almstedt family ever heard had been thrown off. ered an adopted son, also 9, Gertrude moved back them speak of it again for The trial came down to disappeared from his life. into her parents’ home on 50 years. those two pieces of testimo- His stature around town Walnut. She would remain n n n ny, and Barkwell’s attorney eventually diminished. In in Columbia for the rest of Ruby Hulen, Boone made the most of it in his the first years following her life. County prosecutor, found closing argument on July the lynching, everyone in She eventually quit teach- it difficult to build a case 12. town assumed he’d commit- ing at Douglass and with- against Scott’s murderers. “I do not believe a word ted the crime, and he made drew into herself. As the Despite the fact that most of what Nutter said. If you no effort to dispel those years passed, some people every member of the mob are to believe him, you have notions. His friends about whispered she’d gone crazy, was from Boone County, to call W.E. Smith, one of town even bragged that he’d while others went so far as almost every person he our best citizens, a liar!” done it. to suggest she herself was talked to claimed to be The jury deliberated for But the people in town the anonymous informant unable to identify anyone. 11 minutes; Barkwell was who were disgusted at on her husband. Perhaps, Hulen eventually built a acquitted. No one else was what he had done remained they thought, she wanted case against five men, all ever tried for the crime. that way until the day he the money. locals. Grace Barkwell, George’s died. As the 1920s fell All of it was too much The first arrested was daughter and business further into the past, Bark- for Gertrude, and she sank George Barkwell, business- partner, ran forward and well found himself living slowly into depression. She man, city contractor and wrapped her arms around increasingly in a world that missed church more and former city councilman. her father. Townspeople in did not approve of lynch- more regularly and eventu- The most prominent of the courtroom shook his ings. Whispers on the street ally disappeared from sight the men arrested, he was hand and congratulated were that he was a radical. all together. Decades later, the only one charged with him. At a celebratory din- When George Barkwell some thought she’d left murder. ner that night, they toasted died in 1948 after a long town. Community leaders ral- his victory. illness, he merited an obitu- Neither Gertrude nor her lied around Barkwell. The It was perhaps Barkwell’s ary on the front page of the siblings ever had children, men who signed for his finest hour. Missourian as a prominent and when she died, much bond from jail were jointly But Barkwell’s life had resident, though no mention of the story of James Scott worth more than $1 million, already begun to take a was made of the lynch- died with her. It was a sad a huge sum at that time. tragic turn even before ing. But his estate, worth ending to a sad life. They raised money for his April 1923. His wife, Mag- more than $50,000, went But not all the legacies defense and pledged to sup- gie “May” Barkwell, had to probate because he had of that day were sad ones. port him during the trial. died of diabetes in 1921. left it to no one. And at his Two other men on the That support was key Although he was remarried, funeral, no family came to bridge that night would find because ultimately, the trial to Ruth Crouch, in 1930, she carry his coffin. themselves in newspapers came down to the testimony left him in the years that He died alone. around the world telling a of two men: W.E. Smith, a followed. n n n very different story.

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 10

hose touched by was attacking Shaw not hanging encounter because he was a killer, success and sad- but because he was gay Tness in U.S, and and very popular in the abroad New Orleans social scene. About a year after Nutter defended Shaw watching the lynching of loudly and often, using his James Scott and being standing as a city business called a liar in the Bark- leader as clout. It worked, well trial, Charles Nutter and eventually Shaw was left the university as a left alone. As he had at the full-time student in 1924. Barkwell trial, Nutter had He returned numerous stood up for the truth. This times before getting his time he won. journalim degree in 1929. n n n Even before he gradu- Despite the horrific ated he was practicing his events of April 29, 1923, craft, first as the editor Professor Almstedt and his of his hometown paper in family stayed in Columbia. Falls City, Neb., and then Every summer they con- as a part-time correspon- tinued to visit the family’s dent for the Associated cabin in Michigan, and Press. When he officially every Sunday he continued graduated in 1929, he went to play the organ at the immediately to Mexico Calvary Episcopal Church. 4City as the head of the AP Aside from his scholarly bureau. work and contributions to For the next 35 years, he the music program, Pro- was to be at the nexus of fessor Almstedt earned world events. He covered himself a place in uni- the Mexican Revolution versity lore as a result of 1929. At the London of a leg fracture in 1931. bureau, he reported on Charles Nutter (the man who covered the lynching In traction, and hospital- the fall of the Rhineland for the Columbia Evening Missourian in 1923) ized for three months, he to Hitler in 1936. In 1937, taught his classes from he covered the Stalinist in the 1930’s, while working for the Associated his bed at Noyes Hospital. purges from Moscow, and Press. As a reporter, he correspinded with Joseph Stories about the students in 1938 he went to Spain to Stalin and worked briefly with Ernest Hemingway. gathered in his room ran cover the civil war. Dur- in newspapers all over the ing World War II, he ran to Franco and the Fascists boost the city’s profile as a world. the AP’s Latin American in 1939. He weighed 89 shipping port. By the time All of his daughters operations. In the United pounds when he came he left, the city was the eventually went to college, States, he worked in Wash- back to America. Some second busiest port in the and by 1936 all of them ington, D.C., from 1933 people thought he was United States and still is had graduated from the to 1935 covering the New crazy, but it was a story today. University of Missouri. Deal. that had to be told. He had In 1962, he returned to In 1937, he took a year’s Along with being in the seen what could happen journalism when he pur- sabbatical and took a trip right place, Nutter had a when a zealous minority chased the Item, a weekly around the world with his knack for connecting with took power. newspaper in Picayune, wife, Elizabeth. They were the right people. He wrote Nutter’s career brought Miss. Soon, Nutter found gone for a year and 28 a letter to Joseph Stalin, him back to Columbia himself involved in the days. But here, too, their asking him for an inter- in 1944 to receive the conspiracy theories that lives were touched by rac- view to verify that he was Missouri Honor Medal. followed the assassination ism. not dead. Stalin wrote back It is the highest journal- of John F. Kennedy. In Touring his ancestral saying that he was, and ism award the school Louisiana, New Orleans home of Germany, the asked not to be disturbed. can bestow, and when he District Attorney Jimmy professor and his wife He crossed paths with retired from the AP in Garrison accused a local stopped at a political rally. another writer, Ernest 1946, he had done just businessman, Clay Shaw, Nazism was at its peak, Hemingway, in Spain, about everything a jour- of being one of the princi- and the speaker was full though Nutter probably nalist could hope to do. pal men responsible for the of venom and hate. When had other things on his But he wasn’t done yet. death of the president. the speaker finished, he mind. Nutter was the last He became director Nutter knew Shaw from walked through the crowd Western journalist out of of International House, his days at the Interna- of people, and passed just Madrid before the city fell a business group in New tional house and knew this six inches from Elizabeth Orleans designed to to be ridiculous. Garrison

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 11

Almstedt. at Stephens College. She married from a snob and expected no less Born an English citizen, she knew Franklin B. Launer, a music teacher from her children. the man and hated what he stood at Columbia College. Margaret and Growing up, the Hardys had a for. She fought against the urge to her husband moved to the Missis- black nanny, Claudia. Regina made kick him in the groin. English pro- sippi Delta, where they raised two it explicitly clear to her children priety prevailed, and Adolf Hitler children, taught at Mississippi State that she was to be regarded as part walked by without incident. University and were active and of the family. This treatment went Back in the United States, Profes- vocal racial integrationists. Elsa and beyond platitudes. When Claudia sor Almstedt was once again the her husband were champion skeet was short on money, Regina would subject of verbal taunts and abuse, shooters. give her a little extra. When Clau- as he had been during World War Regina Almstedt took a somewhat dia’s abusive husband was becom- I, because of his German heritage. different path. Again, the university canceled all Before graduating from MU in ing too much to handle, Regina was German classes. Again, he taught 1932 with an arts and sciences there to listen to her and support other classes, but he retired as a degree, she went to nursing school her. full-time professor before the war at St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Louis, In her later years, Claudia had ended. Professor Almstedt fell and where she met her future husband, diabetes and suffered from renal broke his hip in September 1954. He Guerdan Hardy. After traveling in disease. Regina helped take care died a few weeks later. Europe and working in New York, of her, taking her places when she In a single lifetime Professor she came back to Missouri and mar- couldn’t get there on her own and Almstedt saw first hand, as both the ried Hardy, a surgeon. helping pay her medical bills when victim and the witness, the effects They had two children, David and Claudia could not. of racism. He did, however, live to Bill, and with them made frequent In the mid-1970s at a family gath- see many positive changes, among visits from their St. Louis home ering, Regina’s son David, a surgeon them the admittance of the first to see the boys’ grandmother and like his father, heard tidbits of a black student to the University of “Opa” - German for grandpa - in bizarre conversation: Missouri in 1950. Columbia. Even in the last weeks Rape - hanging - syphilis - “And But there was always the lynch- of his grandfather’s life, David and that was all. ing. In 1923, he wished “to lift the the professor would sit and practice His mother never talked about cloud (and) - let the sunshine back David’s German. it again, nor did anyone else in the into my home,” and yet it remained Regina Almstedt Hardy learned a family. Before he knew what ques- a family secret. It would remain so lot from her father; a love of music, for 50 years, until one of his daugh- a desire to travel, the value of an tions to ask, his mother died in 1980. ters let it slip. education and a respect for all kinds His Aunt Elsa had been dead for n n n of people. years, and though his Aunt Marga- By 1936, all four of the Almstedt David and Bill saw it every day ret didn’t die until 1995, his busy girls had graduated from the uni- in how she treated people. On the life as a surgeon kept him postpon- versity and had begun to pursue street she was friendly to everyone, ing his search for answers until it their own careers. Ruth worked regardless of race or any other dif- was too late to ask her. first at Columbia College and then ferences. Despite her educated and Dr. Hardy had a secret to uncover, later worked in the art department cultural upbringing, she was far and he wasn’t the only one. Regina Almstedt Hardy with her sons David (left) and Bill, in the mid-1940s. Both boys grew up never hearing about the attack on their mother in 1923.

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 12

The grave of James T. Scott sits alone in Columbia Cemetery. For years the grave of Scott, who was lynched from the Old Stewart bridge in 1923, laid unmarked in what was known as the segregated black cemetery within the Columbia Cemetery. Ray Fountain, the superindentant of the cemetery, and the foreman went out and measured and put the marker where they thought the grave was from descriptions of its location. “Any time I get the chance to locate an unmarked grave, we mark them,” says Fountain, who read an article about the lynching in the 5 Missourian in 1992.

Characters

Wynna Faye Elbert James Nutter Recreation supervisor for the city of Columbia and local Son of Charles Nutter, the reporter who covered the lynching of African-American historian. As a child, the lynching was a James Scott. He and his father discussed the lynching and his secret that she never heard discussed by her family or friends. father’s attempts to prevent it.

David Almstedt Hardy Beulah Ralph Grandson of Professor Hermann Almstedt and son of Regina Director of home school communicators for the Colum- Almstedt, the girl attacked at the Stewart Street Bridge in bia School District. As a child, the story of the lynching 1923. Now a St. Louis surgeon, he heard his family’s role in the of James T. Scott was openly discussed in her home. lynching only once, in passing.

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 13

oday, just over 80 years after the lynching of or to her children, either, save an off-hand comment one James Scott, the city of Columbia seems to have night over drinks. largely buried the event. Her son, Dr. David Almstedt Hardy, heard the comment T No plaques mark the site of the lynching; no and wondered for 30 years what secret lay in his family’s memorials are observed on the date. Every few years, past. Over the years he has tried to find answers, but no someone at a church or in a historical group tries to stir one in the family seemed to know about it. public interest, or a journalist writes a recap of the event. After his mother and all her sisters had died, he wres- But after a while, people forget again. Even the Stew- tled with it: “This has always been a haunting thing to me; art Street bridge is gone, along with the tracks that ran there has always been this shadow,” he said. “I wanted underneath it. Today there is a box culvert under the road to know more about this. I wanted to know what the heck and a few remaining pieces of concrete bridge abutment. went on.” Even Scott’s marker in the Columbia Cemetery can be He’s finally beginning to get answers. His career as a hard to find. To look for it, go to the back of the cemetery urological surgeon is slowing down a little now; he’s dig- where Boone Road and Todd Drive come together. Fol- ging through old newspapers, reading stories, talking to low Boone Road toward the back of the cemetery. Look people who know what happened that day. to the left, and stop where the Bond/Gooding marker lies. First and foremost, he’s wondered for years if his moth- Now walk away from that marker, 48 feet, across the road er had actually been sexually assaulted. In the last few down into the cemetery. weeks he’s discovered she was not, and there is a sense of A small metal plaque replaces the original marker from relief. years ago. It is an understated marker for someone whose n n n alleged crime set off one of the most notorious events in Until the day he died in 1987, Nutter refused to speak Columbia history. publicly about his role in the lynching of James Scott. Now look northeast about 500 feet. Craning a bit around Once, just a couple of years before his death, he offered the trees, there’s a large gray marker next to a tree right a brief comment on the trial that followed to a reporter on the bend of the road. This is the grave of George Bark- from his first newspaper, now called the Missourian: well, the man accused of pushing Scott from the bridge. “There were 100 people that saw what I saw that night. I He is buried less than 10 feet from the old black portion was theonly one who didn’t perjure myself.” of the cemetery. The togetherness he fought so bitterly in But the secrets he kept from the public, he talked about life evaded him in death. to his son. Fascism, racism, even homophobia, were all The other three stories that converged at the Stewart blights Charles Nutter faced and battled in his lifetime. Street bridge have ended now, too. Professor Hermann James said his father did it simply because he believed in Almstedt died in the 1950s, his daughter Regina in the fighting for what was fair and right. 1980s. Charles Nutter, the reporter who became part of For many years, James Nutter was a journalist himself; the story, was the last, in 1987. he and a partner started the first newspapers in southern The survivors and communities they left behind dealt Mississippi for black communities and readers. with the events of the lynching in their own ways. Some Sixteen years after his father’s death, James Nutter is chose to remember the event openly, while others tried to retired as well. The walls of his home are covered with bury it. But all would be touched even 80 years later. pictures of his father, some at home, some in the places n n n he has traveled. He has the signed letter from Joseph Sta- When professor Almstedt died, no mention was made in lin written to his father all those years ago. his obituary of his efforts to save James Scott. His daugh- n n n ter, Regina Almstedt Hardy, never mentioned it in public After Scott’s children returned to Chicago following

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN May 3-7, 2003 — Page 14

their father’s funeral they, like their matters into their own hands. their youth playing on the streets of father’s wife, disappeared into the Beulah watched as most of the Sharp End in the late ’40s and early past. There is no known record of women and children were sent south ’50s. Often, they ran up and down what effect their father’s lynching to the black community of McBaine the stairs in the back of the Armory had on them. on the Missouri River. Then the men building, one of the few remainders In Columbia, the lynching faded walked the few blocks from Sharp of Sharp End today. quickly as a topic of conversation End to the county courthouse and Under the banner of urban renew- in the black community; residents jail. Some were armed, some were al, the city tore down most of the wanted to put the event in the past. not, but all were determined not to buildings in the district and moved In Beulah Davis’ house, it was not let justice be denied again. all of the people out in the late 1950s. a secret to be ashamed of or buried. The lynchers never came, and When Elbert considers the impact on Her mother talked about it openly eventually Cochran was put to death the black community, she says it’s on because she wanted her children to in Missouri’s gas chamber. In some par with the lynching of James Scott. learn from it. And as young Beulah respects it seems a Pyrrhic victory, “Some people don’t think they’re walked through the streets of Sharp but Beulah saw it as a step forward: the same, but they are; we’ll never End and into the rest of Columbia, At least he got his day in court. allow those things to happen again.” she thought she saw more smiles on Beulah graduated from the Freder- Elbert approaches Scott’s lynching the white faces they passed on the ick Douglass School almost 60 years the same way, though it’s not always street in the years after the lynch- ago, and she’s still there. Though easy to get older people to talk about ing; a little more tolerance, a little the name on the desk now reads, it. less hate. “Beulah Ralph,” she’s working in the “We’d speak to a senior citizens Inside the black community, same place she spent so many hours group about history. The neighbor- despite the silence, black citizens had as a child. Today she’s the director of hood? OK. The Douglass School? OK. learned a lesson: They would have home school communicators for the The lynching? Not OK,” she says. to take care of themselves. Their Columbia School District. But Elbert cannot forget the lynch- men had fought and died in World She’s 77, and has tried to retire ing or its legacy, and she keeps ask- War I, but had received little credit. a few times, but it never seems to ing questions. Today, she is working The governor had tried to send the stick. “I like to be in the mix,” she on a book about the history of Colum- National Guard to save James Scott, says. bia’s black community. The lynching but they never arrived. It was a Though some things have stuck, lesson they remembered when his- like the story of James Scott and of James Scott will be part of it. tory seemed ready to repeat itself a the day he was murdered, she takes Elbert is a recreation supervisor quarter-century later. a different view from many of her for the city of Columbia. Just as Beu- In 1947, another black man was peers. “My attitude is a little bit dif- lah Ralph has her office in the school accused of a crime against a white ferent,” she says. “I’m not a negative she attended, Elbert’s office is in the woman; this time it was rape and person. I always try to find some- same building, the Armory, where murder. Floyd Cochran, a local black thing positive.” she used to play. man, was arrested and taken to the She admits it hasn’t always been “I’ve come back to my neighbor- same jail where James Scott had easy; recalling the destruction of hood,” she says. been taken. Sharp End in the 1950s under the She wants other people to remem- Around Sharp End, Beulah and her guise of urban renewal still makes ber her neighborhood as well. She neighbors thought he was being rail- her angry. But she still believes in leads a program that takes African- roaded, arrested because the police the future. American youth around what used to needed a suspect, and a black man “I can’t walk around thinking it’s be Sharp End and shows kids where would be easy to convict. Even many never going to change, because I their history used to live. Good his- of the whites thought this to be true, can’t say we haven’t risen. Yes, we tory or painful history, Elbert wants though they did nothing. still have a long way to go, but that’s people to know it. Once again, rumors of a new life.” “People have kept these secrets, lynching spread. But this time, it n n n they say, ‘Those are not things you wasn’t the people of Columbia, how- In contrast to Beulah Ralph, should talk about.’ My family says ever; these men were coming down Wynna Faye Elbert, like most who I’m stirring up trouble,” Elbert says. from Harrisburg. The militia was grew up around Sharp End, never “But if you don’t know where supposedly coming. But this time, heard the story of James Scott. you’re from, you don’t know where the black citizens of Columbia took Instead, she and her siblings spent you’re going.’ ”

Visit our Web site at: www.ColumbiaMissourian.com