Correspondence regarding the lynching of Samuel J. Bush in Decatur, Illinois on June 2, 1893 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Title: Correspondence regarding the lynching of Samuel J. Bush in Decatur, Illinois on June 2, 1893

ID: 01/02/02/POST-1650 MS 0678

Primary Creator: Baker, Nathan Martin (1837-1922)

Extent: 10.0 Items

Arrangement: Items are arranged in chronological order and printed transcriptions accompany the letters.

Date Acquired: 03/28/2014

Subjects: Lynching, Macon County (Ill.)

Languages: English

In late May 1893, Samuel J. Bush, an African American from Mississippi, was travelling by foot through Central Illinois and was accused of rape and attempted rape by two White farm wives near the town of Mt. Zion. He was eventually found in Moultrie County and incarcerated in the Macon County Courthouse jail in Decatur on June 2^nd. At 1:45 a.m. on June 3^rd, a mob of vigilantes from Mt. Zion stormed the jail and lynched Bush from a nearby telephone pole. Nathan Martin Baker was a minister in the Decatur Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and wrote a letter urging States Attorney Isaac R. Mills to prosecute members of the mob. Subsequently, he published an "Open Letter" in the Decatur Daily Republican on July 3^rd (reprinted at least once more on July 9^th) decrying the mob's transgression of the law and the comcomitant insult to any possible justice in the case. Baker's column initiated a series of personal correspondence with readers both in support and opposed to the sentiments expressed therein.

An account of the lynching and its aftermath is found in Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua's "'Join hand and hearts with law and order' : The 1893 Lynching of Samuel J. Bush and the Response of Decatur's African American Community" (Illinois Historical Journal, vol. 83, Autumn 1990, pp. 187-200).

Lynching
Macon County (Ill.)

Repository: Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Access Restrictions: The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions:

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Acquisition Source: Swann Auction Galleries

Box and Folder Listing

Box 1

Folder 1: Administrative information

Printout of Swann's Sale 2342, Lot 248, March 27^th 2014. Photocopy of article: Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua. "'Join hand and hearts with law and order' : The 1893 Lynching of Samuel J. Bush and the Response of Decatur's African American Community" (Illinois Historical Journal, vol. 83, Autumn 1990, pp. 187-200).

Folder 2: N. M. Baker to I. R. Mills, 06/15/1893

Autograph letter ("copy") on two leaves.

Folder 3: W. L. Chenowith to N. M. Baker, 07/03/1893

Signed typed letter (1 leaf) with envelope.

Folder 4: M. Auer to N. M. Baker, 07/04/1893

Typed letter (2 leaves) with envelope.

Folder 5: Charles M. Fletcher to N. M. Baker, 07/08/1893

Autograph letter (1 leaf) with envelope.

Folder 6: [Clipping] "An Open Letter to the Participants in the Mob of June 3, 1893, By Rev. N. M. Baker of Long Creek Township", 07/06/1893

2 copies of clipping from the Decatur Daily Republican. One is dated and one is not.

Folder 7: F. D. Scott to N. M. Baker, 07/22/1893

Signed autograph letter (1 leaf.)

Folder 8: N. M. Baker to F. D. Scott, N. d.

Autograph letter [draft or copy] (6 leaves)

Folder 9: N. M. Baker to C. M. Fletcher, N. d.

Unsigned autograph (1 leaf) letter. Possibly a draft, but incomplete.

Folder 10: [Envelope] On recto in pencil: "Papers relating to the Mt. Zion Mob" and "The Mount Zion Mob and Correspondence growing out of it", N. d.

Approximately 4.75 by 9.25 inches.