This year marks the 100th anniversary of the lynching of Ed Johnson, a 24-year-old black Chattanooga man whose death drew the attention of then-President Theodore Roosevelt and the U.S. Supreme Court.

LaFrederick Thirkill, a 36-year-old teacher at H.H. Battle Academy of Teaching and Learning, has spent six years researching the incident and is planning activities to honor Mr. Johnson, including a cleanup of the cemetery where he is buried and a play about his life.

"Generations went by, and we didn't know that story. I don't want that to happen again," Mr. Thirkill said.

On March 19, 1906, Mr. Johnson was hanged by a mob on the Walnut Street Bridge after he was accused of raping 21-year-old Nevada Taylor.

When Ms. Taylor was asked to identify Mr. Johnson during the trial, she said she didn't know if Mr. Johnson raped her but thought he did, according to "Contempt of Court," a 1999 book by Mark Curriden and retired Chattanooga attorney Leroy Phillips.

Mr. Johnson's case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ordered his execution stopped. Nevertheless, Mr. Johnson was taken to jail. A mob later came for him and hanged him on the Walnut Street Bridge.

At the request of the Supreme Court, President Theodore Roosevelt sent the Secret Service to investigate the matter, Mr. Phillips said.

The investigation led to the U.S. government charging Hamilton County Sheriff Joseph Shipp with contempt of court. The government also charged Mr. Shipp's chief deputy and at least four members of the mob.

"It was the first and only case in the nation where someone had been tried for being in contempt of the U.S Supreme Court. That honor belonged to the sheriff of Hamilton County," Mr. Phillips said.

Mr. Shipp was a captain in the confederate army, Mr. Phillips said.

According to the book, members of the mob told Mr. Johnson to make peace with God because he was going to meet his maker. Mr. Johnson replied, "God bless you all. I am a innocent man."

Mr. Phillips said he didn't start doing research about Mr. Johnson until he had been practicing law for about eight years. While researching another matter he read that the sheriff in Hamilton County had been held in contempt of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. Thirkill first heard of the case after reading a news article in 1999 about Pleasant Gardens Cemetery, he said.

He is asking for volunteers to help clean up the 23-acre cemetery where Mr. Johnson is buried. The cemetery, on Missionary Ridge off Rowe Street, is the burial place of several people who have been noted in chapters of local and American history.

The cemetery also includes members of the "Scottsboro Boys," who were falsely accused of raping two white women in 1931. And the site is the burial ground of Mr. Thirkill's greatgrandfather, Willis Orr, Mr. Thirkill said.

Mr. Thirkill also has worked with members of the Community Foundation to establish a scholarship in Mr. Johnson's name. The scholarship will target students from the Chattanooga area who are criminal justice majors. It will be distributed this fall.

Mr. Thirkill also has written a play about Mr. Johnson. The play is called "Dead Innocent, the Ed Johnson Story." Proceeds from the production will go to the scholarship fund, Mr. Thirkill said.

"I just felt the need to share the story in its entirety from his perspective," Mr. Thirkill said. "Some people may come see a play quicker than they would read a novel."

The play will be performed at Chattanooga State Technical Community College on April 14, 15 and 16. Tickets are $10.

Mr. Thirkill said a memorial will be held at the Bessie Smith Hall on March 19 to commemorate the day Mr. Johnson died.

E-mail Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com

[above] LaFrederick Thirkill and his daughter Maya look at the tombstone of Ed Johnson in Pleasant Gardens Cemetery on Missionary Ridge. Mr. Johnson was lynched on the Walnut Street Bridge in 1906. Staff Photo by John Rawlston

[left] The tombstone of 1906 lynching victim Ed Johnson lies in Pleasant Gardens Cemetery. Staff Photo by John Rawlston

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