Sam Hose (born Samuel Thomas Wilkes; c. 1875 – April 23, 1899) was an African American man who was tortured and murdered by a white lynch mob in Coweta County, Georgia, after being accused of rape and murder.
Personal life Sam Hose was born Tom Wilkes in south Georgia near Marshallville (Macon County), circa 1875. He grew up on a Macon County farm owned by the Jones family; the family had enslaved his mother. Hose was described by those who knew him as friendly and intelligent and, unusual for a Black man in the 19th century South, he learned how to read and write. Having to look after his aging mother and an intellectually disabled brother, he abandoned his plans for higher education and worked as a manual laborer. Newspaper accounts in 1899 said that Wilkes left Marshallville and used the alias Sam Hose because he had been accused of assaulting an elderly Black woman.
Accusation Wilkes moved to Coweta County, where he assumed the alias Sam Hose. On April 12, 1899, he was accused of murdering his employer, Alfred Cranford, after a heated argument. Hose had requested time off to visit his ailing mother. According to Hose, Alfred Cranford threatened to kill him and pointed a revolver at him. Hose was working at the time with an ax in his hands. Hose alleged that, due to the threat, he defended himself and threw the ax, killing Cranford. Hose fled the scene, and the search for him began shortly thereafter. Five cash rewards were offered for his capture, including from then-Governor Allen Candler, The Atlanta Constitution, Coweta County, the town of Palmetto, and Jacob Hass of Atlanta. Over the next few days, the furor was caused by rumors suggesting that Wilkes sexually assaulted Cranford's wife, Mattie Cranford, and assaulted his infant child. Newspapers portrayed Hose as "a monster in human form" who gleefully raped Mrs. Cranford and their infant child in front of the dying Mr. Cranford and, for good measure, claimed without evidence that Hose was suffering from advanced syphilis. Mrs. Cranford forever maintained that she had been raped by Hose, and her youngest son, Clifford Alfred "Tan" Cranford, was left blind in his left eye as a result of the injuries he received that day. On April 23, 1899, Hose was apprehended in Marshallville and returned by train to Coweta County.
Following events A mob kidnapped Hose from the train at gunpoint in Newnan, Georgia. Hose was marched to the Newnan jail, where a dispute arose between Hose's captors and the sheriff. The captors agreed to surrender Hose to the sheriff if they were paid their reward money. As the town jailer led Hose to a cell, the mob grew alarmed, held a pistol to the jailer's head, and took Hose away. Former Governor William Yates Atkinson and Judge Alvan Freeman pleaded with the crowd to release Hose to the custody of the authorities. Ignoring their pleas, the crowd moved northward toward the Cranford home. The lynch mob grew, reaching an estimated 500 individuals, though some accounts purport around 2000. Once news of the capture reached Atlanta, large crowds boarded trains to Newnan. Mistakenly believing that these trains were loaded with troops, the mob stopped just north of Newnan, deciding they could wait no longer.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
