Note about "Unknown"
In the immediate aftermath of the lynching of Matthew Williams, a man who remains publicly unidentified to this day was murdered in an area that was considered the outskirts of Salisbury--on College Ave. and Railroad Ave. It is believed that part of the mob that attacked Matthew Williams sought out unprotected African Americans to harm. Because of the related nature of these two lynchings and limited information on the unidentified man, both men are included on this page.
Maryland State Archives biographical series
Matthew Williams (b. 1908 - d. 1931)
MSA SC 3520-13749
Lynched in Salisbury, December 4, 1931
Biography:
Matthew Williams was lynched on Friday, December 4, 1931, at 8:05 pm in Salisbury, Maryland, located in Wicomico County on Maryland´s lower Eastern Shore.
During the afternoon of December 4, Matthew Williams went to the office of his employer, Daniel J. (D.J.) Elliot, local lumberyard and box factory owner, apparently to discuss his low hourly wage. Williams had been a laborer for Elliot since childhood, and was liked by all who knew him and extremely loyal to the Elliot family. D.J. Elliot was in his office located on Lake Street talking on the phone with another Salisbury businessman, Thomas Chatham, when Williams entered around 2:00 p.m. According to Chatham, who heard the incident over the phone, he remembered no words were spoken and that two gunshots were fired. Chatham immediately called the authorities. The authorities found D.J. Elliot dead at his desk, his son, James Elliot present, and Matthew Williams incapacitated by several gunshot wounds.
James Elliot would state that he had heard the shots from the house and ran to investigate, finding his father dead and Williams lying on the ground in a pool of blood. As James ran for help, Williams recovered to flee towards the lumberyard, only to be stopped by James Elliot with gunshot wounds to the shoulder and leg.
A different account of the incident is found in Shepard Krech III’s Praise The Bridge That Carries You Over: The Life of Joseph L. Sutton, page 124, where Mr. Sutton recalls a conversation in Easton with a friend who said it was Daniel J. Elliot’s son James who did the shooting. It seems that Matthew Williams had agreed to lend James Elliot a sum of money that he had saved on condition that the money would be returned. When attempts by Williams to get repaid by the younger Elliot failed, Williams took the matter up with his good friend Mr. Elliot, and that is when James walked into the meeting, and shot both Williams and his father.1
Once Matthew Williams arrived at Peninsula General Hospital in downtown Salisbury, half-dead and semi-conscious, he was immediately restrained in a straitjacket to prevent further attacks. As soon as Williams´ head and shoulder were wrapped, State´s Attorney Levin C. Bailey and Wicomico County Sheriff G. Murray Phillips questioned him, where he is quoted saying "I got my man." The late edition of the Salisbury Times at first wrote that Williams died at the hospital, but as soon as they learned he was still alive, by 7:30 p.m., a sign was posted on the Salisbury Times building correcting their previous statement. A crowd began to gather on the hospital lawn, and the phrase "Let's lynch him" began to ring through. People were exiting from their homes, shops, restaurants and corner stores, adding to the commotion that evening. Delmar High School had just beaten Wicomico High School in a highly anticipated match-up of the two local football teams, and both teams were dining at the Wicomico Hotel on the corner of Main and Division St. near the scene as the crowd began to assemble. A number of men entered the hospital, demanding that Williams be turned over to them, but were stopped by Police Chief N.H. Holland and Deputy John Parks, who blocked the entrance. Six members of the mob then went around the building to an open side entrance and reached the Negro ward of the hospital. There, hospital superintendent Miss Helen V. Wise instructed them, "If you must take him, do it quietly." There were two other men in the ward at the time Williams was taken, Rufus Jernigan and Jacob Conquest, but both were apparently unharmed during the raid. The men threw the bandaged Williams out of a window down to the crowd of approximately 300 people anxiously waiting below.
As the crowd escorted the blinded Williams towards the courthouse, onlookers joined in the event, and 300 quickly grew to a crowd of over 1000 people. Williams, still straitjacketed, was pushed, stabbed with an ice pick, and then dragged behind a truck three blocks to the courthouse lawn. At 8:00 p.m., the crowd strung up a noose and found a branch twenty feet above the ground, tied the unconscious Williams' neck, and began to lift him up, then drop him down. County Sheriff Phillips attempted to prevent the lynching, but the mob pushed him to the side. After repeating the lifting and dropping several times, the mob allowed Williams to hang lifelessly for twenty minutes, meanwhile mocking the victim and taking parts of his anatomy as souvenirs. After Williams thumped to the ground one last time; the crowd followed the body being dragged behind a truck once again, towards a black section of Salisbury off Poplar Hill Avenue. Finally, after about an hour of further torture, Williams´ corpse was tied to a light post, doused in gasoline and oil, and set on fire in front of Rosen's store "so all the colored people could see him." The sheriff was able to recover the body of Matthew Williams from the tired, drunken mob, and cut it down from the light post hours later. However, unsure as to what to do with the remains, he decided to dump the body in a field outside of town. The Williams family, rightfully terrified and despite the atrocities that were forced upon their son, still wished to have the body recovered for a proper funeral. The black undertaker James Stewart and authorities recovered the body from the field and brought it back for the funeral, held at Stewart's Funeral Home in Salisbury.2
It was said that this lynching was in response to the delayed "justice" the Eastern Shore experienced in the past year with the trial of Euel Lee, a.k.a. "Orphan Jones," accused of murdering a white family of four in Berlin, Maryland. Lee´s lawyer, Bernard Ades, felt that there was no way that he would receive a fair trial on the Eastern Shore and had the hearing moved to Baltimore, which deeply angered the residents of Worcester County and the Delmarva Peninsula as a whole.3 Immediately after hearing of the Williams lynching in Salisbury, Governor Ritchie set up a task force with Attorney General William P. Lane to look into prosecuting those who were involved in any way with the mob that killed Matthew Williams, stating that the actions on the Eastern Shore were disgraceful to the entire state.4 After interviewing those officers and hospital workers who were present during the abduction, no one could recall or recognize anyone that was present that night. Incredibly, it was concluded that most of the active mob members were from other parts of the peninsula, including Delaware and Virginia, and to this day, no one has been prosecuted for the lynching of Matthew Williams.5
1. Krech, Shepard, III. Praise the Bridge That Carries You Over: The Life of Joseph L. Sutton, (Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing Co., 1981).
2. "Eye Witness to Lynching Tells How Mob Acted," The Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
3. "Blame Ritchie in Lynching," The Washington Times, December 5, 1931.
5. "Blankety, Blank, Blank!" Jeffersonian, March 6, 1932.
Accessed from the Maryland State Archives website here and used under fair use.
The Sign (2017)
- The SignStrange Fruit on the Courthouse Lawn is an award winning documentary that was created by students at Salisbury University and is currently making the rounds at film festivals. The film follows the story of Matthew Williams, a young black man who was lynched from a tree on the lawn of the county courthouse in Salisbury, MD on December 4th 1931. Historians and archival documents explain the facts and uncertainties surrounding his lynching.
Note about newspaper clippings
There are still many newspaper clippings from the Daily Times and the Baltimore Afro American that we are working on uploading. In the meantime, please contact the Nabb Center (nabbcenter@salisbury.edu) to view the files.
Excerpt from Baltimore Afro American, 12 December 1931
Newspaper Clippings
"Negro Slays D.J. Elliott and Self," Salisbury Times, December 4, 1931.
"Salisbury Killer is Hanged from Tree at Courthouse," Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1931.
"Mob Took Negro From Her Custody," Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1931.
"Blames Lynching on Defense League," Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1931.
"W. Preston Lane," Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1931.
Louis J. O'Donnell, "Guard Against New Racial Outbreak at Scene of Lynching," Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1931.
"Failed to Stop Shore Lynching ; Chief of Police N.H. Holland," Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1931.
"Lynching Breaks 20 Year Record," Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1931.
"Comment of Eastern Shore Newspapers on Lynching," Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1931.
"Disgrace," Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1931.
"Letters to the Editor," Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1931.
"Blame Ritchie in Lynching" The Washington Times, December 5, 1931
"Ritchie Orders Mob Members' Arrest ; Lee Trial Deferred," Baltimore Sun, December 6, 1931.
Louis J. O'Donnell, "Guard Against Racial Outbreak at Scene of Lynching," Baltimore Sun, December 6, 1931.
"Ritchie Orders Vigorous Prosecution of Mob that Lynched Salisbury Killer" The Baltimore American, December 6, 1931
"Blames Tardiness of Law for Salisbury Lynching," and "Negro Preacher Urges Law Obedience in Sermon," Baltimore Sun, December 7, 1931.
"The Eastern Shore Kultur," Salisbury Times, December 8, 1931.
*editor's note. Originally published in Baltimore Sun. See republished article on December 19, 1931,
"Eastern Shoremen Resent Radio Announcer's Comment on Section," Marylander and Herald, December 8, 1931.
"Jury in Lynching to Meet This Week," Afro-American, December 8, 1931.
"Very, Very Bold, But Not Enough So to Use His Name to this Letter," Baltimore Sun, December 8, 1931.
"Corner's Jury to Investigate Slayer's Death," Wicomico News, December 10, 1931.
* Also published in Salisbury Times.
"Baltimore To Try To Retain Shore's Trade," Wicomico News, December 10, 1931.
"Newspaper Tells of Shore Boycott," Baltimore Sun, December 11, 1931.
"Prominent Salisbury Man Killed by Negro Who Was Lynched," Democratic Messenger, December 12, 1931.
"Last Tribute to D.J. Elliott," Democratic Messenger, December 12, 1931.
"Matt Williams Was Only Slightly Wounded," Democratic Messenger, December 12, 1931.
"This is Sane and Sound," Democratic Messenger, December 12, 1931.
I.P. Bowen, "Worried Out," Democratic Messenger, December 12, 1931.
"Shore Attacks Mencken for Mob Article," Democratic Messenger, December 12, 1931.
"Mencken Abuses Eastern Shoremen," Democratic Messenger, December 12, 1931.
"The Finishing Touch," Democratic Messenger, December 12, 1931.
"The Eastern Shore Speaks," Salisbury Times, December 12, 1931.
"Mencken is Denounced by Shore Newspapers," Baltimore Sun, December 12, 1931.
"Lynched Man's Sister Doesn't Believe Brother a Killer," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Fellow Worker of Lynched Man Says He Was Quiet, Industrious," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
Ralph Matthews, "Church as Usual for Godfearing Sho' Lynchers," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Shore Lynchers May Have Had Second Victim," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Grief Stricken Family Mourns Death of Mob Victim who was Tossed from First Story Hospital Window," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Doctor Deserts Home After Seeing Mob," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Salisb'ry Mayor Rounds Up the Town's Leaders," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
Levi Jolley, "Aunt Sobs, Declares 'Buddie' Mob Lynched Was a Good Boy," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"100 Per Cent Americanism on the Eastern Shore," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Lynchers in Salisbury Had Right-of-Way," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Views in Salisbury Maryland's Lynch Town, Where Blood-Thirsty Fiends Ran Amuck Last Week," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
Theodore Holmes, "Chicago Quizzes Governor Ritchie on Lynching," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Elks' Director Probes Lynching," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Lynch Threat Used to Make Worker Quite," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"31 Lynchings in Maryland Since the Year 1882," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Colored Strangers Said to Have Been Warned from Salisbury," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
George Murphy, "Salisbury M.E. Church Pastor Asks for Faith," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Salisbury Times Condones Mob Lynching," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Salisbury Dubbed Lynchtown ; Citizens Wait to Clear Name: Governor Ritchie Promises Sweeping Investigation," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Eye Witness to Lynching Tells How Mob Acted," Afro-American, December 12, 1931.
"Ritchie Misses Radical Parade," Baltimore Sun, December 13, 1931.
"Several Are Questioned in Hanging Case," Salisbury Times, December 15, 1931.
"Lane Investigates Lynching of Negro," Baltimore Sun, December 15, 1931.
"Baltimore Merchants Absolved in Shore Case," Baltimore Sun, December 15, 1931.
"Delmarva Body Meets Today to Consider Stand," Wicomico News, December 17, 1931.
"Lane Joins Ades in Plea in Lee Case," Wicomico News, December 17, 1931.
"Lane to Return to Shore Today," Baltimore Sun, December 18, 1931.
"Lane, Bailey Resume Probe Mob Hanging," Salisbury Times, December 19, 1931.
W.H. Logue, "An Open Letter to Baltimore Hospitals. Even the Huns Respected the Red Cross Flag, but Salisbury Lynchers are Not Huns. They Rate Lower," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Salisbury, Golgotha," "The I.L.D.," "What Will Congress Do?" "Guilty or Not; Who Knows?" Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Salisbury Not in Maryland," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Man's Toes Cut Off by Mob at Salisbury," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Strong Feeling Against Lynch Probe on Sho'," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Baptist Ministers Petition Governor," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
H.L. Mencken, "The Eastern Shore Kultur," Baltimore Sun, December 19, 1931.
* also published in Salisbury Times
H.L. Mencken, "The Eastern Shore Kultur," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
*Excerpt from article published in Baltimore Sun and Salisbury Times
"Keep Your Eyes on Ritchie, Says Henry," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Governor Defends Procedure in Handling Lynching Probe," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
Edward G. Carroll, "Yale Divinity Student Thinks Only Way Out of Salisbury Outrage Is to Lynch the Lynchers," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"A.M.E. Preachers Flay Lynching in Resolution," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Baptist Conference Petitions Governor," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Hold Mass Meeting," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"250 at Meeting on Interracial Relations," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Where States Rights Lead to an Editorial," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Teachers Wire Ritchie," Andrew Simon, "Is Governor Ritchie Fit to be President?" "Maryland Rivals Texas," Thomas L. Hunter, "White Superiority," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Hold Prayers for AFRO Investigators at St. Matthew," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
Robert Stansbury, "If the Faith Which You and I Have is Called Christianity, Then What Salisbury Has is Barbaric Heathenism, Of Course, No Civilized Person Would Join in a Mob to Kill One Man," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
Secretary, "Warns President of Lynching Evil," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Governor Ritchie says State Seeks to Punish Lynchers," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"A Lynching Tree Speaks," Afro-American, December 19, 1931.
"Shore Lynch Jury to Call Mencken," Baltimore Sun, December 20, 1931.
"Ritchie and Lane Study Lynch Case," Baltimore Sun, December 21, 1931.
"Find the Lynchers," Baltimore Sun, December 21, 1931.
"Kennerly is Firm on Stand for Subpoenas," Salisbury Times, December 22, 1931.
"Delmarva Body Will Reply to Critics of Sho'," Wicomico News, December 24, 1931.
Oscar H. Hale, "Mencken the Moralist," Democratic Messenger, December 26, 1931.
"Untitled Notice," Democratic Messenger, December 26, 1931.
"Lynching Data Being Gather'd," Democratic Messenger, December 26, 1931.
"Want to Make the Lynch District Defenceless," Afro-American, December 26, 1931.
"Gas Station in Salisbury Won't Sell Strangers," Afro-American, December 26, 1931.
Edward Jones, "Preach God at One Time and Lynch at Another," George Birckhead, "Salisbury Optimism," Afro-American, December 26, 1931.
E.B. Taylor, "Suggests Ralph Matthews Give Governor Ritchie a Few More Days to Perfect his Plans for Having Salisbury Lynchers Punished," Afro-American, December 26, 1931.
Chas W. Thompson, "Salisbury Mobbists Cannot be Civilized White People. God Only Knows What They Are," Afro-American, December 26, 1931.
Tom Pettey, "Finds Mob Spirit Rules Eastern Shore ; Lynching May Embarrass Ritchie," Baltimore Sun, December 27, 1932.
Tom Pettey, "Declares Ritchie is Sitting on Political Dynamite As Result of Shore Lynching," Afro-American, December 28, 1931.
"Sho' Lynching May Decide the Next President," Afro-American, January 2, 1932.
James Briggs, "Lynching Cannot be Stopped, Unless We be Willing to Shed Blood," Frank Benson Mitchell, "Action, Not Talk, But Remedy for Lynching, says New Jersey Reader," Afro-American, January 2, 1932.
Arthur James, "A Boycott of Eastern Shore Goods is Suggested for Maryland," Afro-American, January 2, 1932.
"M.E. Group Asks for Punishment for Salisbury Mob," Afro-American, January 9, 1932.
Gordon C. Davis, "The Douglass Kind of Leadership Needed," Afro-American, January 9, 1932.
"30 Days A.L." Afro-American, January 9, 1932.
Bill Brent, "Lynch Law in Maryland," Afro-American, January 9, 1932.
"Lynching Inquiry Report Denied," Baltimore Sun, January 15, 1932.
"J. Finley Wilson Flays MD for Inactivity," Afro-American, January 16, 1932.
Victoria Constance, "Insult of Our Women Causes No Ripple in the Day's News," Afro-American, January 16, 1932.
"Interracial Body Asks Gov. to Punish Mob," Afro-American, January 16, 1932.
"Civilization is Pretty Low Among Many Virginia Whites and Uncle George Bonniwell Indicates that He Lacks the Intelligence and the Culture that Some White Folks Have," Afro-American, January 23, 1932.
"31 White M.E. Ministers Ask Ritchie to Act," Afro-American, January 23, 1932.
"Anti-Mob Report Adopted by M.E. Board," Afro-American, January 23, 1932.
"Church Board Reports Lynch Probe Findings," Baltimore Sun, January 25, 1932.
"Bruce Defends Eastern Shore Against Critic," Baltimore Sun, January 29, 1932.
"Maryland Joins Free Lynching League," Afro-American, January 30, 1932.
"Salisbury 'Backwards' Says Hopkins Man," Afro-American, January 30, 1932.
Henry F. Arnold, "Governor Ritchie, Lynching, and Colored Police for Baltimore," Afro-American, January 30, 1932.
"Governor Ritchie a Dead Candidate," Afro-American, February 6, 1932.
William Pickens, "Pickens Says Bruce's Thesis Disproves Itself," Afro-American, February 6, 1932.
W.W. Walker, "Bruce Paints Lynchers as Winged Angels," Afro-American, February 6, 1932.
"The Afro Replies to ex-Senator Bruce," Afro-American, February 6, 1932.
"In Rebuttal to Prof. Broadus Mitchell," Wicomico News, February 11, 1932.
"Prof. Broadus Mitchell," Afro-American, February 13, 1932.
"NY Detective Recalls State's 1911 Lynching," Afro-American, February 13, 1932.
"No Action Yet for Shore Mob," Afro-American, February 27, 1932.
"The Lynching Shore," Afro-American, February 27, 1932
"Help for Salisbury," Afro-American, March 5, 1932.
"Blankety, Blank, Blank!" Jeffersonian, March 6, 1932
"Lynched Man's Fingers, Toes, Used to Make 'N----r Sandwich'," Afro-American, March 12, 1932.
"Ask Va. Berry Pickers to Stay Off MD Eastern Shore," Afro-American, March 12, 1932.
John Smoot, "All Newspapers Sell ; The AFRO Excels," Afro-American, March 12, 1932.
"75 Are Called in Lynching Case," Baltimore Sun, March 13, 1932.
"100 To Be Called in Lynching Case," Baltimore Sun, March 14, 1932.
"Sho' Jurors Open Probe of Lynching," Baltimore Post, March 15, 1932.
"Many Called in Shore Probe of Lynching," Baltimore Sun, March 16, 1932.
"Shore Jury Investigating Lynching, and Foreman," Baltimore Sun, March 16, 1932.
Frank R. Kent, "12 Questioned in Shore Probe of Lynching," Baltimore Sun, March 16, 1932.
"Labor Defense Demands Impeachment of Judge," Baltimore Sun, March 16, 1932.
Frank R. Kent, "Lynching Jury is Expected to Report Today," Baltimore Sun, March 17, 1932.
Frank R. Kent, "6 Witnesses Still to Face Lynching Jury," Baltimore Sun, March 18, 1932.
Paul Henderson, "On the Eastern 'Sho'," Afro-American, March 18, 1932.
"14 Lynching In State Since 1885, None Prosecuted," Salisbury Times, March 18, 1932.
"Lynch Verdict Closes Probe," Baltimore Post, March 19, 1932.
Frank R. Kent, "Lynching Jury Unable to Name Any Defendant," Baltimore Sun, March 19, 1932.
"Labor Defense Group Presents New Demands," Baltimore Sun, March 19, 1932.
"Grand Jury Probes Eastern Shore Lynching -- Baltimore Music Groups Triumph in Group Appearance," Afro-American, March 19, 1932.
"Text of Judge Bailey's Charge to the Grand Jury on Eastern Shore Lynching," Afro-American, March 19, 1932.
"Will They Present the Killers of Matthew Williams?" Afro-American, March 19, 1932.
"Lynch Report is Turned Down by Church Body," Afro-American, March 19, 1932.
* Also Published in Wicomico News
"Grand Jury Starts Investigation in Salisbury Mob Burning ; Call Mortician, Physician in Shore Probe," Afro-American, March 19, 1932.
"Ofays Show Salisbury Folk Deference," Afro-American, March 19, 1932.
"An Anti-Lynching Law," Baltimore Sun, March 20, 1932.
"Shore Judges Plan Action in Berger Case," Afro-American, March 22, 1932.
"Sufficient Evidence to Indict," Wicomico News, March 24, 1932.
"Probe Ends in Whitewash for Sho' Lynchers," Afro-American, March 26, 1932.
"Whitewash for Maryland's Lynch Town, Salisbury," Afro-American, March 26, 1932
"Echoes of Euel Lee Case on Eastern Sho'," Afro-American, April 2, 1932.
"Have Not Bowed to Lynchland, Dr. Haynes Says," Afro-American, April 9, 1932.
"Dr. Haynes Quibbles," Afro-American, April 9, 1932.
"A Little Lesson in Hypocrisy of Churchmen," Afro-American, July 2, 1932.
"Lynchtown, MD Celebrates Its 200th Birthday," Afro American, August 13, 1932.
"Lynchtown Jailed Black Boys as a Boys' Week Joke," Afro-American, August 20, 1932.
"Ex-Mayor Elmer Ruark," Daily Times, August 5, 1982.
Brice Stump, "Mob Justice and a Modern-Day Attorney's Interest," Daily Times, February 26, 2006.
Folklore Student Interviews on Maryland Lynchings, 1970-1973
From 1970 to 1973, students in Dr. Polly Stewart’s folklore and folklife classes sought to capture the memory of lynchings on the Maryland’s Eastern Shore. These students interviewed 28 community members, typing or handwriting their stories in a methodology similar to oral histories. Although many of the stories capture vivid descriptions of local racial terror lynchings—specifically Matthew Williams in 1931—they also exemplify the fault of memory 40 years later. In fact, most of the interviewees confuse dates and events with other local lynchings—or were retelling stories they had heard from older generations.
However, the students did not collect release forms from interviewees—most of whom are now deceased—which would provide the students, and subsequently the Nabb Center, permission to publish the information. In order to protect the privacy of both the students and interviewees, names and addresses have been redacted.
Death Certificate for Matthew Williams and "John Smith"
WM Jackson oral history interview, circa 1980
In this excerpt of an interview with WM Jackson conducted by George H. Corddry, circa 1980, the two discuss the 1931 lynching of Matthew Williams (1993.18.05a). For more information on this collection, visit the finding aid here.
Marie Waller oral history interview
This oral history interview with Marie Waller was conducted by Susan Holt in November 2009. Waller reflects on her experience as a nurse in the "colored" (African American) ward of the Peninsula General Hospital the shift after Matthew Williams had been removed by a mob and lynched on December 4, 1931. For more information on the interview, visit the finding aid here.
Wicomico Woman's Club minutes
After the lynching of Matthew Williams, the Wicomico Woman's Club held special meetings to consider proposals for resolutions condemning the lynching. The Club deliberated for several days and eventually voted to not make a statement, which led to the resignation of several Club members.
For more information on the collection, visit the Finding Aid.
