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The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia: An interview with author Jim Hall Part 2
Join us as we chat with Jim, author of "The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia," about the hidden histories of racial violence and love in the South. This episode uncovers the silences that have long overshadowed these stories.
In 1932, a black man was found hanging on Rattlesnake Mountain in Fauquier County. A mob set fire to his body. Officials identified the remains as Shedrick Thompson wanted for the abduction and rape of a local white woman. Some claimed Thompson killed himself--the final act of a desperate fugitive. But residents knew better, calling the tragedy a lynching--the last one known in Virginia. Author Jim Hall takes an in-depth look at the events to expose a complex and disturbing chapter in Virginia history.
It is an extraordinary story of bravery, of courage in the face of near insurmountable odds as to the long-term viability of their partnership socially. I mean, the two of them obviously were committed to one another, but just everything standing against them with the time, with the age, with the politics of the day. To have made that choice really is just a remarkable decision and it sets the tone for what happens. They do manage to to flee at least a certain distance together, they make it all the way from Warrington to Maryland. They make it a good ways away over a period of days. Now, this is in December of 1879. And how long did it take for them to reach a place of safety? And where did they end up once they finally found the kind of a brief respite in their travels?
Jim 28:20-33:17
That is one of the pieces that bothered me a lot. And again, I had to admit to the reader, you'll find the expression, we don't know, appears a couple times in the book. And this is one time where it does appeal. They laid an elaborate plot. I was really impressed with the extent to which they planned their escape, if you want to call it that. Jessica, in The Merchant of Venice, runs away with her lover. and steals her father's money. And Elvira did the exact same thing. They laid in an elaborate plan. They made an elaborate plan. She stole money, a substantial amount of money from her father, and they fled and they caught a train at the Markham station just a short distance from her house. But what the plan included was the fact that Arthur would leave from his house and he would go to the Marshall station, which was eight miles from the Markham station. So they boarded the same train heading east to Alexandria and D.C. They boarded the same train. but from different stations. And of course, given the laws and custom of the time, they couldn't sit together. Blacks and whites were not allowed to sit together on public transportation. So he sat in the car reserved for the black folks and she sat in the white. They then headed to Alexandria and to Washington. Nathan, Again, a scene that I had to fill in, but it was not a stretch. I picture he woke up that Saturday morning and realized quickly that Elvira was gone, and asked around and learned that she had run off with Arthur. So he immediately goes to the Markham train station. There's a train getting ready to depart the Markham train station, passenger train. And he feels like he's right on their tail. So he convinces the conductor to let him check the train. They delay the train.
He goes from front to back and she's not there. She and Arthur had caught an earlier train, obviously. He goes home and we're talking right at Christmas time. It's about a day or two before Christmas. He waits till the Christmas holiday is finished a couple of days later. And again, sets out to try to find them. He takes the train down to Alexandria and he stops there and he talks to the station personnel and there's a policeman. And he says, have you seen this young lady? And they had, they remembered Elvira. They were able to convince him to go home. It's too late. You've lost him. And he did. But Elvira and Arthur, by my reckoning, when they reached Washington DC, they could have, I actually got a lot of help on this point. from a man who was a train expert. And they could have easily taken a train from Washington to Baltimore, and then back west on the Maryland side of the Potomac to Washington County, Maryland, and to Williamsport and Hagerstown. Those are in the Western portion of Maryland, just not very far from the Pennsylvania border. I have really no idea why they chose that area. Perhaps there's no evidence of anybody in that area in the families of either Arthur or Elvira.
You know, I like to think that we have these elaborate, we seek these elaborate reasons for why people do things. And sometimes I think it's just dumb chance. You know, I picture him getting into Baltimore, the two of them getting into Baltimore, getting off the train and buying a newspaper, a copy of the Baltimore Sun. And there in the classified ads is a help wanted for a farm worker in Washington County, in Williamsport, just out in their little area was called Clear Spring. And then they look at each other and say, well, let's go there. I don't know, but I think that's just as plausible as any other thing. But that's where they ended up. They took the train west and got off in Williamsport, went to Clear Spring, three or four miles away, and began working for the Shep family, S-H-E-P-P, a big farm family there. And they both were working and living at the Shep farm. They were about 80 miles from home.
Ben 33:19-34:23
I couldn't help but wonder, Jim, as I was reading your account, and this is again just pure speculation in some way or sort of idle thought, but I just thought, you know, Elvira had stolen, you write, about $1,000 in 1879 money, which is about $28,000 in today's money. She'd stolen that from her father. They could have gone to New York, and then they would have been truly in the wind, you know? I mean, but why stay within a couple of days, you know, horse rides from home? I mean, was it? Was it courting the risk? Was it sort of the thrill of, you know, knowing they'd gotten away with it, but we're still so close? I mean, we will never know, but it just, I couldn't help but wonder, why not get further afield to where an interracial couple would just not arouse the same kind of immediate suspicion that it does in the Riverine counties along the Potomac?
Jim 34:25-35:43
We don't have an answer to that question. Maryland's laws were just as strict on those points as Virginia's. Maryland was not a sanctuary. And as they learned. I went to Maryland, I went to that area, Washington County, several times, and I was struck instantly by how much it resembles Fauquier, the geography, with the Appalachian Range to the west, and the foothills, and the pasture land, and the forest and field. Sparsely populated. I don't know if, I don't know if they would have known that when they set off. Perhaps it had a reputation as being, maybe the, I often wondered if the, I actually checked it out and found no evidence. I wondered if the Shupp family had a reputation among black people far and wide as almost a stop on the Underground Railroad during slavery's days. Was there something about that area that Arthur perhaps knew to be safe? And I don't know. I just have to tell the readers, I don't know.
Ben 35:43-36:56
Yeah, assured of at least fair treatment, you know, in some way. Now, we know, of course, that Nathan Corder does catch up to them in his pursuit. But before we get to that exact moment, I would love for you to describe for us, there's this, you speak of chance as one of the factors in this particular story and it's so sorrowful because there's a there's a moment in which They encounter the the worst possible piece of luck when even after they have arrived and found safe haven at the shop farm and this this this piece of bad luck, when chance rolls the dice against them, is a man whose name we don't know, but whom you describe as the letter writer. And they could not have predicted that something like this was going to happen. I suppose it was always a possibility, but but to have happened so soon in their flight is just, it is really hard to read. Can you tell us who this letter writer was, what little we know about him?
Jim 36:58-39:56
We know almost nothing about him. And again, I had to admit that to the reader. We do know a couple of things. That Arthur and Elvira at the Shep Farm, they had been there long enough, and they apparently felt very comfortable there. They were apparently well treated by the Sheps, and they seemed to be happy in that area, that community. enough so that they made excursions into Williamsport a couple miles away for social occasions. And one of them was the dedication of a new black church in Williamsport. But their trips into Williamsport, presumably in a carriage that the Sheps lent them, their trips into Williamsport attracted the attention of a stranger. And the stranger was offended to see a black man and a pregnant white woman out for an evening or a day and apparently enjoying themselves. So he made some inquiries. Who are these people? What are they doing here? And he learned the name, he learned Arthur's name. And he noted that they had money. They apparently had plenty of money. So he learned Arthur's name and he learned that they were from Markham, Virginia. So he took it upon himself, he was so offended by that, he took it upon himself to write a letter to the postmaster at Markham, Virginia. And the letter said, if you're missing a black man and a white woman, we got them, they're here. And the postmaster knew exactly what he was talking about. And he forwarded the letter to Nathan, Elvira's father. And Elvira's father, Nathan, knew what was, he was the first indication that he had of where they were, what had happened to them. after his attempt to recover them. So he called in his neighbors and he had two adult sons and he got three neighbors, four neighbors. So they made a party of seven, but he asked his neighbors if they would ride with him. He was going to get her. He wanted to bring her back home. And they agreed. So the seven of them set out north from Fauquier and went to retrieve her, at least. I don't know what their plan was for Arthur. And they eventually found him.
Ben 39:57-40:07
You know, what kind of poison has to flow through a man's veins in order to write letters like that? You know?
Jim 40:07-40:08
It's none of his damn business.
Ben 40:09-42:12
Right. And it just, it's chilling, and it's arguably one of the saddest moments in the whole book. Because you just think, that's the break point in the narrative. You think, what if that person you know, hadn't seen them or, you know, just was not possessed, you know, to do that. I mean, might they have been able to, you know, live in peace together, at least for a while longer. I mean, before, you know, the suspicion of the authorities began to rise up. I don't know. I mean, it just, you know, the story breaks off into different channels there, but I just think they had barely arrived and had barely had a moment's peace until this moment, and then some, well, you know, it's terrible. Busybody. Yeah. Seeks to actively destroy two strangers about whom he, you know, he knows nothing. And it's terrible. So, I want to I want to say that at this moment, when Nathan Corder and his vigilante crew find Arthur and his daughter on the Shup Farm, You write in your book that they surprised Arthur, that he had no idea that they were in hot pursuit, although he must have thought, you know, some kind of effort was being made, but they surprised him. But interestingly, Jim, You know, we were talking about silence earlier and about the kind of the figures in the narrative about whom we know less and have to kind of try imaginatively to enter into their worlds. You write that maybe the most interesting reaction of all came from Elvira. So before we leave the narrative aside for a moment, can you tell us just what happened on that day when they were found?
Jim 42:14-46:10
They made it to Williamsport, and they went to the home of the letter writer, and he put them up. They stopped in Charlestown, West Virginia for the first night, and the next day they arrived in Williamsport and went directly to the letter writer, and he put them up. And then in the morning, he showed them where the Shep Farm was. So they rode out to the Shep Farm, And Arthur was in the barn cleaning out the staples and they got the drop on him. They completely, if he and Elvira had suspected that they were, they better keep their eyes open for the old man. He wasn't doing that at that moment because they got the drop on him and they shackled him and they put him on a horse. And Elvira was in the home, presumably that was where her job was. some cooking, cleaning, childcare. And she saw what was happening. And she came running outside. And she, it I think is great testimony to her intelligence, to her initiative, to her abilities. She knew exactly what was happening. She saw her old man, she saw her two adult brothers, and she knew they were in trouble. But the family, it's always been interesting to me that the family was during the early part of this escapade, of this incident, when she ran away with Arthur, the family used the excuse that he had forced her, that he had intimidated her, that he had threatened her, and that if she didn't come with him, there was going to be trouble. So they had painted this picture of Elvira as a victim, as an abductee, as someone who is being held against her will. Yet, when they arrived at the Shep Farm, she gave lie to that theory. She was furious. She was upset. And in one newspaper account, it was that she was indignant and refused to be comforted. She knew exactly what was happening, that they were about to take him, Arthur, back and killing. And who knows what they were, what their plan was for her to take her back to, I guess. And I've always believed that her reaction was so strong and so hostile to their intentions that they had to change their plans. Because they knew they could never make it 80 miles with the two of them. Riding back with the two of them. So in one press account, it said one of the younger men, which I assume to be her brother Will, he was the younger of the two adult age boys, took her in back into Williamsport. and put her in the Taylor Hotel there and asked the innkeeper, William Taylor, to take care of her and that they would be back for her because they wanted to take her home by train because of her delicate condition, meaning her pregnancy. I believe that her reaction was so strong and so unexpected that they had to come up with plan B. And plan B was to take her back to Williamsburg and just quickly head for home with Arthur.
Ben 46:11-47:29
Yeah, and when you write about, you know, them wanting to quote-unquote preserve her from a delicate condition, I mean, you know, the modern reader very quickly reads between the lines and just hears, you know, these men speaking for this woman and not allowing her any agency, you know, whatsoever or any control in the decision-making, which is just, you know, it adds levels of infuriation to what is already, you know, a terrible situation. I couldn't help but wonder, Jim, whether part of her fury and rage in that moment was also stemming from fear about being an expectant mother and what is going to happen to her baby if Arthur is no longer around. And is she going to be cast out by the family? Is the baby going to be suffer some terrible fate that, you know, we don't, we're not going to learn about. All of those things, you know, running through her mind as well, just must have added so much to her response. I can see the challenge that you faced in having to reconstruct this out of the silences and out of the gaps, but yet there's still so much to work with.
Jim 47:32-49:13
She, can you imagine her, I tried to imagine her sitting in the Taylor Hotel and waiting for her father or her brothers to return to Williamsport and get her. And I gotta wonder if she didn't wait, if she decided, it was interesting to me that the Williamsport newspaper carried a story about Arthur. And so she was not, she didn't really have to wonder what had happened. She had some knowledge about what had happened after they left her. And I see her as, I've always seen her as a person of agency, as a bright, industrious, I mean, she was raised on dawn to dusk farm work. And if you have ever worked on a farm or known anybody who worked on a farm, they're capable people. They can use their right hand and their left hand. They can hook up a plow. They can tell you the best place to get the pond ice. They know what the hell they're doing. I gave her all the credit in the world for being that kind of person, being an absolutely capable, industrious and smart person. So I pictured her like Fantine in Les Miserables, striking out for the city and Baltimore or Philadelphia and raising her child there and never going back to, it was the great unknown though.
Ben 49:15-49:43
And that leads me to say that though readers might think they know what's going to happen at this particular moment, I can assure everyone out there that that is not the case. The story still has many twists and turns that take place after this moment. And anybody who wants to find out what happened after Arthur and Elvira are found, well, they will have to pick up a copy of your new book. What is the best way for them to do that, Jim?
Jim 49:44-50:05
It is available at all popular booksellers, such as Arcadia Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and it's available, at least in my region, perhaps because of the stores that carry local authors, it is available in bookstores in my region and local bookstores, but certainly at the major booksellers.
Ben 50:07-50:52
Well, we can't thank you enough for joining us. You know, it's funny, there's been kind of a shadow presence as we've been speaking, which is William Shakespeare, who wrote, of course, that the course of true love never did run smooth, as we are recording this the day before Valentine's Day. Of course, we hope everybody out there does have a good Valentine's, that all their loves, you know, run smoothly. But we really appreciate your taking some time for us to bring this incredibly powerful story back to light. I mean, to be able to reach down into the darkness of the absences in our history and still find something there that is waiting to be told and waiting to be shared. I mean, that is just wonderful work. And we're very grateful, Jim, for your taking some time for us.
