-
Title
-
Negro Who Shot Springer Carried to Birmingham
-
Source Type
-
Newspapers
-
Author
-
N/A
-
Publisher
-
The Choctaw Advocate
-
Publication Place
-
Butler, AL
-
Publication Date
-
July 29, 1919
-
Transcript
-
NEGRO WHO SHOT SPRINGER CARRIED TO BIRMINGHAM.
Mob Tried to Get Him Down in Sumter, near Place of Killing.
John Henry McCoy, the Birmingham negro who killed Mr. C. O. Springer on Monday last, (21st) was brought to Tuscaloosa by Sheriff D. D. Davis, of Sumter county, late Tuesday afternoon. The killing took place across the line in Choctaw county at a saw mill where Springer was working.
The murder from all accounts was a most brutal one and caused great indignation in the community. Young Springer is said to have been shot in the back as he was walking away from the negro's house, after telling him to come down to the office and get his time, as McCoy had quit work. The murderer was on his way to Birmingham, but was captured before he could board a train on the A. G. S. for, the big city up the road, where he formerly resided.
A mob was organized to hang McCoy and Sheriff Davis, fearing for the life of his prisoner, put him in a fast car and carried him to Eutaw. The Eutaw sheriff did not care to be bothered with the man, it is said, and asked the Sumter sheriff to bring him to Tuscaloosa. Sheriff Hughes, after a conference with Judge Foster, did not think it wise to try to keep him in the jail here, where young Springer made his home and was popular, so the Sumter sheriff started for Birmingham in his car with his prisoner, where they are better prepared to take charge of such criminals.
It is not likely that any attempt would have been made to take him from the Tuscaloosa jail, but Sheriff Hughes thought it the part of wisdom not to keep him here, where there is a good deal of suppressed feeling at the brutal, cowardly manner in which Mr. Springer lost his life. He will be safer in the Birmingham jail, where he is likely to remain till he is taken back to Choctaw, where he will have to stand trial for his life. The body of Mr. Springer who is a son of Mr. and Mrs. R. N. Springer of this city, was brought to Tuscaloosa and carried over to Mt. Pleasant church, near Gordo, where the remains were buried this morning. Mr. Springer is well known in this city, where he has resided for some time, and the sympathies of all who know the family go out to the father and mother and other relatives of the young man at this hour. Tuscaloosa News July 23rd.
