In Forsyth County, Georgia, in September 1912, two separate alleged attacks on white women in the Cumming area resulted in black men being accused as suspects. First, a white woman reportedly awoke to find a black man in her bedroom; then days later, a white teenage girl was beaten and raped, later dying of her injuries.
Following the first alleged assault, a black preacher who made disparaging remarks about the victim was harshly beaten. Local law enforcement locked the preacher inside the courthouse overnight to protect him from the mob waiting outside. Other black men, arrested in connection with the alleged assault, were moved to Atlanta for their safety. A grand jury dropped the case months later.
Following the second alleged assault, a 16-year-old black boy was linked to the attack by a pocket mirror sold to him at a local store. He confessed, under duress, and implicated accomplices. Rob Edwards was one of the men arrested and held in the small jail in Cumming. He was taken from the jail by a white mob and shot and beaten to death, and his body was hanged from a telephone pole. The 16-year-old and an alleged accomplice were later convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to death by hanging, which was carried out weeks later in what became a public execution.
In the following months, a group of men called "Night Riders"[a] terrorized black citizens, warning them to leave in 24 hours or be killed. Those who resisted were subjected to further harassment, including shots fired into their homes, or livestock killed. An estimated 98% of the black residents of Forsyth County left.
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