Examining the Documents

Augustus Washington Graham, born 8 June 1849 and deceased 12 October 1936, is part of a family legacy in Hillsborough, North Carolina that traces nearly a century of legal and political dynasty. Graham himself practiced law for 18 years and serving as both a representative and a senator in the NC state assembly for a combined 8 years. His father, William Graham, served as a US senator for two terms 1841-44 and Governor of North Carolina for one 1845-49. A.W. Graham was one of eight children, with his six brothers and one sister all having varying degrees of involvement with the practice and politics of law in the state. Too, four of his six brothers fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, cementing the family's status as fixture in pre and antebellum North Carolina's legal and political landscape (UNC Libraries A.W. Graham Papers Search Guide). 

This piece of correspondence is drawn from Graham's law practice. The letter, which is dated April 27th, 1875, details an encounter one of Graham's partners had with a group of witnesses claiming to have seen a Klan lynching. The transcription is as follows:

Dear Gus,

               Tom Devenent, who is Dick Badger’s partner, tells me that a negro whose son was hung by the Ku Klux, was in to see Dick yesterday. He said that the enclosed (negroes) witnesses could give the particulars of the hanging, and the second one on the list, would swear to seeing the person whose name is at the head, put the rope around his neck. Badger directed him to see Lusk of Greensboro.

Affectionately

The apparent details are that a man whose son was allegedly lynched by a member of the Ku Klux Klan entered Tom Devenent's office with a group of individuals to report a lynching and name a suspect. Devenent is likely a member of law enforcement in Hillsborough, and passed this information through Graham's office for unknown reasons. Here Graham acts as relay for the legal proceedings surrounding the case, sending information to "Gus," an unknown third party who needed to know that the party of witnesses would be headed to "Lusk," another point in the legal relay, with the name they gave Devenent. 

Attached to the letter Graham sent to "Gus" is a list of the witnesses that came forward and the suspect they named. These names are transcribed below:

Samuel H. Johnson }

Richel B Garrington

Josephen Garrington

WA Morejs

Bilsey Morejs

Litle D Spruner

Merida Turrestime

As is clear from the letter, Samuel H. Johnson is the suspected Klansman, and the six individuals below are the witnesses. There is no mention in either document as to which name belongs to the victims's father, though there are two sets of witnesses with the same surname, which makes it likely one of the pairs was also related to the victim.