A.C. Williams

Case summary

Incident

On May 11, 1941 at about 2:30 a.m., A.C. Williams was in a home in Quincy, Florida with three other Black men. Dan Davis, Quincy’s assistant police chief, knocked on the door. According to a state investigator’s report, Davis had been patrolling the area when he heard gunshots. On his way to investigate, he passed a Black man running and turned to chase the man, who ran into the house. Davis arrested and jailed Williams “on suspicion” that he had fired the shots.

According to the state report, shortly after Davis arrested Williams, a white man named William Bell told police that someone had entered his house, robbed him of two watches and $1.50, and sexually assaulted his 12-year-old daughter. Davis searched the route he saw the Black man run and found two watches that Bell confirmed were his. Davis stated he searched Williams during his arrest and found $1.60 and a knife in his pocket.

At 2:30 a.m. on May 12, Davis was patrolling on foot. The state report details that a car pulled up to him and two masked men jumped out. Each man grabbed Davis by an arm and placed a pistol in his side. They disarmed him and put him in the car, where two other men were waiting. During questioning by the state’s attorney, Davis said the men told him, “We just want that goddamn negro out of the jail and we don’t want any fuss about it.”

They drove to the jail and instructed Davis to let them in and keep the lights off. The men led Davis to A.C. Williams’ cell and told him to unlock it. They handcuffed Williams using Davis’ handcuffs and took him out, locking Davis in the cell block.

Sheriff Morgan Luten, who lived near the jail, heard Davis calling for help and freed him. Luten and Davis started searching for Williams and his kidnappers. They told state investigators they found a plow line tied to a pecan tree with blood stains directly under the limb it dangled from. Nearby, they found “marks on the ground apparently made by someone crawling and dragging with blood stains here and there.” Luten told Williams’ mother to let him know if she saw her son.

State Attorney Orion C. Parker began a preliminary investigation on May 12. He collected testimony from the Bells. Davis told Parker of the masked men, “I am satisfied that every one of those fellows knew me, but I didn’t know them.” Parker also interviewed Dr. Sterling E. Wilhoit, a physician who had examined Bell’s daughter.

On the evening of May 12, Hattie Williams, A.C. Williams’ mother, told Luten that her son was home and needed treatment for gunshot wounds. Williams’ brother testified at the coroner’s inquest that an injured Williams had crawled to his mother’s house. Luten later wrote Gov. Spessard Holland that he called Wilhoit and the two traveled together to Williams’ house. According to the state report, Wilhoit determined Williams had been shot 10 times, and three of the shots “pierced him in the upper chest and lungs.” Wilhoit said Williams had a “fifty fifty chance to recover if given proper attention.” During the coroner’s inquest, Wilhoit said Williams had a severe head wound “like he had been pummelled or beaten” and that the “outer layer of the skull was crushed.”

Luten arranged for Will Webb, a local Black undertaker, to take Williams to the Black hospital in Tallahassee, approximately 30 miles away. After midnight, Webb and three Black men put Williams in the ambulance and started towards Tallahassee. Luten later told state investigators he did not think it necessary to accompany the ambulance or send a guard because it was late and no one else knew Williams was traveling to Tallahassee.

Once Webb was four miles east of Quincy, someone stopped his ambulance on the state highway. Two masked and armed men took Williams and put him in their car. Williams was heard saying “Oh Lord” when he was moved. Webb drove back to Quincy to tell Davis.

At 5 a.m. on Tuesday, May 13, a white man notified Luten that he saw a dead Black man on a bridge five miles north of Quincy. Luten drove to the bridge and found Williams. According to the state report, Wilhoit’s “examination showed no additional bullet wounds, but did show that he had been shot in the arm and side with bird shot.” Luten told newspaper reporters, “We found him on his back, where he apparently had been dropped by bullets fired into his body.”

Aftermath

Parker came to Quincy to attend the coroner’s inquest. According to the Tampa Times, Parker said the inquest “had added little to his knowledge of the case” and he was “interested in learning whether the second masked band had been told” of Williams’ ambulance trip.

According to the state report, Hattie Williams refused to accept A.C. Williams’ body, so Webb buried him “in the colored cemetery.” Investigator Maurice H. Tripp noted, “my personal opinion is that the mother was afraid to accept the body.”

Tripp made an investigation at Holland’s request. In his final report dated May 25, Tripp wrote, “I find no mob sentiment.” He stated he had not seen any crowds of people gathering and “The sentiment of the general public is they feel that the officers did their duty.”

The investigations did not yield any leads on the identities of the masked men. Luten told reporters, “We have virtually no clues to work on.” Though Luten told the press that the abduction of Williams from jail was “obviously a plan to lynch him,” he said he did not assign any guards to the ambulance because, “I didn’t expect trouble of any kind.”

The killing of Williams received national attention. Reporters referred to him as “the man who was lynched twice.”

On July 14, 1942, George Earl Hoffman, U.S. Attorney of the northern district of Florida, sent the Department of Justice (DOJ) a preliminary report and state investigative materials. Of Williams’ kidnapping from the ambulance, Hoffman wrote, “The situation was one that really justified and required an armed guard and protective custody in its best sense.” He continued that if a federal investigation identified the men responsible then that evidence might warrant a criminal prosecution in state court for murder.

On July 23, 1942, Wendell Berge, assistant attorney general and head of the Criminal Division at the DOJ, wrote Hoffman, “the behavior of the law enforcement officials in Quincy, Florida, may be subject to criticism on the basis of ineptitude and negligence, but it does not appear that any willful or intentional refusal to protect A.C. Williams was involved.” Berge stated that based on the state investigative materials and Hoffman’s assessment, criminal charges against law enforcement were “not warranted.” He also said there was no need for a federal investigation, “Although an investigation for the purpose of assisting the local authorities might have been worth while at an earlier time.”

Luten died on Jan. 30, 1944 at age 70; he was still sheriff of Gadsden County at the time of his death. Davis died on May 27, 1952 at age 44.

Media Gallery

Case summaries are compiled using government records and archival primary source material. These include, but are not limited to, investigative records, arrest reports, newspaper articles, court filings, census records, birth and death certificates, transcripts, and press releases. In many cases, the records contain contradictory assertions.

In addition to the incident files associated with this case, this summary relied on the following:

Sources

Archival

• Papers of the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching: Organizational Files; Northeastern University Library, Boston, Massachusetts

Genealogical

• Florida Death Index, Florida, United States, 1941
• Population Schedule for Gadsden County, Florida, United States Federal Census, 1930, 1940
• Population Schedule for Quincy, Gadsden Count, Florida State Census, 1935
• World War II Draft Registration Cards, Florida, 1941

Newspapers

• “5 Lynchings Listed for ‘41,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), August 8, 1942
• “A Florida Disgrace,” Miami Herald, May 14, 1941
• “Accused Negro is Taken From Gadsden Jail,” Miami Herald, May 15, 1941
• “Accused Negro Shot in Florida,” The Republican (Springfield, MA), May 13, 1941
• “Churchman Asks Ouster of Sheriff in Lynching Case,” Tampa Tribune (Tampa, FL), May 15, 1941
• “Coroner’s Jury Probes Lynching of Young Negro,” Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, FL), May 15, 1941
• “Department of Justice and Florida Lynching,” Carolina Tribune (Raleigh, NC), May 24, 1941
• “Escaped as Shot Cut Rope,” Atlanta Daily World, May 16, 1941
• “Five Lynchings, NAACP Reveals,” Atlanta Daily World, December 30, 1941
• “Fla. Mob Lynches Negro,” Louisiana Weekly (New Orleans, LA), May 17, 1941
• “Florida Lynching Probe is Started,” Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, NC), May 14, 1941
• “Florida Man is Lynched by Two Mobs,” The Call (Kansas City, MO), May 16, 1941
• “Four Men Take Negro From Quincy Jail But Fail to Lynch Him,” Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, FL), May 13, 1941
• “Holland Asks Investigation of Lynching,” The Tampa Times (Tampa, FL), May 14, 1941
• “Holland Gets Lynch Report,” Panama City News (Panama City, Florida) May 14, 1941
• “Holland Orders Probe of Negro’s Lynching by Quincy Quartet,” Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, FL), May 14, 1941
• “ILD Lists 5 Lynchings, Five Near Lynchings,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), June 19, 1941
• “Lynchers Aided Nazis NAACP Tells Roosevelt,” Louisiana Weekly (New Orleans, LA), May 24, 1941
• “Masked Band Kills Victim in Second Try,” Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, AL), May 14, 1941
• “Masked Men Slay An Accused Negro,” New York Times, May 14, 1941
• “Mob Drags Victim From Ambulance to Lynch Him,” San Antonio Register, May 16, 1941
• “Mob Kills Suspect in Quincy, Fla.,” Atlanta Daily World, May 14, 1941
• “NAACP Sees New Lynch Technique in Courtroom Killings; Reports Five Known Lynchings for 1941,” Pittsburgh Courier (Pittsburgh, PA), January 3, 1942
• “Negro, Mobbed and Badly Hurt, Again Snatched,” The Record (Hackensack, NJ), May 13, 1941
• “New Lynching Technic Seen in Tex. Slayings,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), January 1, 1942
• Obituary for Dan Davis, Tallahassee Democrat (Tallahassee, FL), May 28, 1952
• Obituary for M. Pierce Luten, Atlanta Constitution, February 1, 1944
• “Probe Continues in Lynching of Negro,” Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, FL), May 15, 1941
• “Quincy Negro Seized, Slain by Band of Men,” Dothan Eagle (Dothan, AL), May 13, 1941
• “Quincy Sheriff Death Victim,” Tallahassee Democrat (Tallahassee, FL), January 31, 1944
• “Recent Lynching Renews Demand for Lynch Bill,” Cleveland Call and Post (Cleveland, OH), May 31, 1941
• “Say Lynchers Aided Nazis,” The Call (Kansas City, MO), May 23, 1941
• “See New Lynching Trend in Courtroom Murders,” New Journal and Guide (Norfolk, VA), January 3, 1942
• “Senate Hears Amos Lewis Score Pegler,” Tallahassee Democrat (Tallahassee, FL), May 27, 1941
• “Start Probe of Lynching in Florida,” The Daily American (Somerset, PA), May 14, 1941
• “The Story of a Lycnhing,” New York Post, May 24, 1941
• “Upper House Flays Pegler for Writings,” Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, FL), May 28, 1941
• “Wartime Lynchings,” Crisis (Baltimore, MD), June 1941
• “Would Suspend Sheriff,” Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, FL), May 15, 1941
• “Wounded Negro Attack Suspect Seized, Killed,” Tampa Bulletin, May 17, 1941
• Westbrook Pegler, “A Florida Lynching,” Chicago Daily News, May 17, 1941
• George S. Schuyler, “The World Today,” Pittsburgh Courier (Pittsburgh, PA), June 7, 1941
• Denmark Vesey, “Florida Lynchers Forced Victim to Castrate Himself,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), May 24, 1941