"Anthony Crawford"

In 1916 the owner of 427 acres of prime cotton land in Abbeville South Carolina,secretary of the chapel AME church,a married man sixteen children -was arrested and then released after quarreled with a local white merchant over the price of cotton seeds.A mob, infuriated that Anthony spoke so bluntly to a white man, went after him." When a nigger gets impudent we stretch him out and paddle him a bit," exclaimed one white man. Anthony resisted and crushed the skull of a white attacker.The mob then stabbed and beat him before the sheriff rescued him and put him in jail. Several hours later, a second mob broke into the jail and beat him to death. his body was left hanging at the fairgrounds.After his beating,Anthony told a friend, "I though I was a good citizen." The coroner's jury ruled that his death had occurred at the hands of persons unknown.