Lynching in America / The Lynchings of Horace B. Duncan, Fred Coker and William Allen

Marker Text: On Good Friday, April 13, 1906, Springfield and Greene County had a thriving population of African American professionals, business owners, and community leaders. By the early hours of Easter Sunday, the city had been overwhelmed by hate and violence because of a false allegation that two black men, Horace B. Duncan and Fred Coker, had assaulted a white woman. A lynch mob was formed, and the two men were taken to the city jail for their protection. A third young black man, William Allen, was already in the jail. The mob broke into the jail and took Mr. Duncan and Mr. Coker to the city square, where they were hanged from the Gottfried Tower – an iron structure topped with a replica of the Statue of Liberty. Not satisfied with lynching the two men, the mob returned to the jail and brought Mr. Allen to be lynched. By Easter Sunday morning, all that remained was a pile of ashes and the men’s burned bodies. A crowd of thousands watched both public spectacle lynchings. Fearing further violence, many African Americans left the city, some never to return. After the lynching, a grand jury met and indicted eighteen men who were involved in the incident. One man was brought to trial, but no one was ever convicted of these murders.