"What virtue there is in fire"

By Edwin T. Arnold

Subjects: Racism, Murder -- Georgia -- Coweta County -- History -- 19th century, African Americans, African Americans -- Crimes against -- Georgia -- Coweta County -- History, Lynching, Crimes against, Murder, Hose, Sam, -- d. 1899, Hose, Sam, -- d. 1899 -- Influence, Lynching -- Georgia -- Coweta County -- History -- 19th century, Racism -- Georgia -- Coweta County -- History, Coweta County (Ga.) -- Race relations -- History, History, Race relations, Influence

Description: "The 1899 lynching of Sma Hose in Newnan, Georgia, was one of the earliest and most gruesome events in a tragic chapter of U.S. history. Hose was a black laborer accused of killing Alfred Cranford, a white farmer, and raping his wife. The national media closely followed the manhunt and Hose's capture. An armed mob intercepted Hose's Atlanta-bound train and took the prisoner back to Newnan. There, in front of a large gathering on a Sunday afternoon, Hose was mutilated and set on fire. His body was dismembered and pieces of it were kept by souvenir hunters ... Arnold analyzes newspapers, letters, and speeches to understand reactions to this brutal incident, without trying to resolve the still-disputed facts of the crime."--Jacket.