Library Guides: Lynchings on Maryland's Lower Eastern Shore: Wesley Miles, 1912

Biography

Wesley Miles (d. 1912)
Executed on December 6, 1912 in Princess Anne, Maryland

Wesley Miles was executed in Somerset County on December 6, 1912 in Princess Anne, Maryland. Miles was suspected to have assaulted a White girl. Miles was around 40 to 50 years old at the time of his execution, and had a wife and 7-8 children. He was employed as a stable hand and shop worker in Princess Anne.

In late May 1912, Wesley Miles was suspected to have assaulted 14 year old Maggie Phillips, daughter of his employer former Somerset County Sheriff William Phillips. The girl claimed Miles had attempted to attack her three times, threatening her with a knife to keep her quiet the first time, while being successful the other two. After a successful attack during which Miles allegedly held her hostage in her attic, Phillips told her mother. After discovering Maggie had informed her mother of his actions, Miles then threatened both of them with a knife to tell no one. Mrs. Phillips informed her husband, who in turn reported Miles to the police. An warrant was issued for Miles' arrest, and he was taken before a judge and held without bond.

Soon after Miles' hearing, Sheriff Harding Tull realized that his prisoner would likely be lynched should he remain in Princess Anne long enough for the news to circulate. In order to prevent such an extrajudicial killing from taking place, Tull and a deputy whisked Miles away in a car for his own protection. Their final destination would be Baltimore. After switching his current vehicle for a larger one in Fruitland, Tull became aware of his pursuers. Led by the victim's brother, a mob had commandeered nearly every car in Princess Anne to give chase to Tull and lynch Miles. Meanwhile, lynch mobs also formed outside of jails and train stations in nearby Salisbury, Delmar, Pocomoke City, Cambridge, and Delaware towns of Laurel and Seaford. Their goal of capturing and lynching Miles was explicit. Anticipating the pursuers would expect him to take a particular train line to Baltimore, Tull opted to take a different line out of Greenwood, DE. While no mob had formed their, Tull, his deputy, and Miles hid in the woods of Delaware and Caroline County, MD overnight. They took a train from Greenwood to Love Point, MD, and then a steamer to Baltimore.

Miles was confined to jail in Baltimore until his trial, which would also be held in Baltimore to prevent a lynching. Upon his questioning, he denied attacking Maggie Phillips, citing his failure to run away should clear him of wrongdoing. However, after a trial with Phillips' testimony, he was found guilty in October 1812, and sentenced to death. The execution was scheduled to take place in Princess Anne under close supervision of Sheriff Tull.

Excitement on the Eastern Shore surrounding the Miles case had mostly died down by the time of the scheduled execution in early December, but Sheriff Tull did not want to take any chances. Miles was transported to a secret location in Somerset County, where he was held until being moved to the jail the day before his execution. In the days leading up to his death, a petition was submitted by Princess Anne townspeople to Maryland Governor Goldsborough to grant Miles a respite. However, this was unsuccessful. On December 6, 1912, Miles confessed his guilt on the gallows to the crowd. After Miles was executed, both Tull and his deputy confirmed that Miles had confessed his guilt to them as well. Miles' wife opted not to claim her husband's body nor his purse of $2.75, citing she wanted nothing to do with him.