On Tuesday, April 1, 1902, Walter Allen—originally from Gainesville, GA, and now a long-time waiter at the Armstrong Hotel in Rome—was kidnapped from police custody by a mob in the thousands. The mob did not attempt to conceal their identities as they arrived at the jail with various weapons in hand. They lynched Allen in the heart of Rome, in front of what was then called the Central Hotel (later called the Forrest Hotel at Broad and 5th Ave). Before he was hanged from an electric pole, he prayed that the correct assailant would be caught for the crime. Then, after dying, his body was shot with lead for nearly twenty minutes. When his body was retrieved the next morning, the coroner discovered that at least a thousand bullet wounds had shredded the young man’s body. (Thanks to the work of this committee, we now know that the crowd stopped and gathered around his body for a photograph to commemorate the deed.)

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The Crime

The crime for which this citizen of Rome was unjustly killed had occurred two days earlier. Late Monday afternoon, on March 30th, Blossom Adamson, a 16-year-old girl, was returning home and walking past the house of Mrs. Brehen, a dressmaker and a friend of Ms. Adamson. As she was passing Mrs. Brehen’s home on East First Street, between Fourth and Fifth Avenue, she said an African-American man approached her and told her that Mrs. Brehen wanted to see her. Blossom walked into the house, and, reportedly, the African-American man followed her. 

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After she passed the first room of the house, she was choked from behind until she was nearly unconscious. Her assailant apparently heard Mrs. Brehan returning, grabbed Ms. Adamson’s pocketbook, and fled. Once Ms. Adamson was able, she ran three doors down to her uncle Captain A.B.S Mosley’s home and reported her attack. 

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The Arrest

By Wednesday, the 1st, around 4 p.m., Allen was arrested before being taken to the county jail under the supervision of Captain A.B.S Mosley, the uncle of the victim. Mosley wanted only himself and a few city detectives to know about the crime because he felt “nothing could be done if the affair was made public.”

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At the county jail (at the County Courthouse on 5th Ave & Broad), Allen was identified by Mrs. Brehan, the witness. She told Mosley that it was Allen she saw talking to Ms. Adamson and following her into the house. Though Allen profusely pleaded his innocence, Mosley fired three shots at him with one bullet injuring him in his arm. With a bullet wound and being held down by men, Allen jumped through an open window of the jail and escaped. He fled down the Oostanaula River bank and hopped into the water. The men caught up to him, and he was captured. The newspaper recalled the chase as being “exciting.”

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While the police were recapturing Allen, news spread about the crime. Mrs. Brehan once again confirmed her identification to a crowd. As the men returned to the jailhouse with Allen, they were met with hundreds of unmasked people set with the intention of kidnapping Allen. 

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The Lynching 

At least a thousand people surrounded the jailhouse with, again the reports emphasized, no attempt to conceal their identities. The overall attitude of the mob was described as “quiet, peaceful, grim, and determined.” 

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The uproar was described in the Atlanta Journal Constitution as, “Every available gun and pistol in Rome was secured and the crowd was composed of citizens of high and low degree, without regard to friendship, politics or social standing.”

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Mayor Hiles supposedly called for an order of military companies to protect Allen from the crowd, but the issue was never signed. By the time the Atlanta Governor was telephoned, their efforts were futile to calm the gathered crowd of around 4,000. Allen was being held in a cell while the mob sat outside, demanding that the keys be given to them. When they were denied, they took a sledgehammer to the jail doors and entered Allen’s cell. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that the mob had “secured their prey.” The mob cheered as they dragged shoeless Walter Allen a block to a telephone pole sitting on the corner of Broad Street and Fifth Avenue in front of Central Hotel. Once they arrived at the Central Hotel, bits of the crowd dispersed to balconies to get a better view of the lynching. 

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Allen was noted as being “calm” because he knew his fate, but he still spoke of his innocence and hoped that after his death, they could find the right assailant. His words fell on deaf ears. Around 8:20 p.m, he was hanged 40 feet from the telephone pole in front of Central Hotel. Bullets plunged into Allen’s swinging body for roughly twenty minutes from various weapons within the crowd. 

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“He was literally torn into shreds by the storm of bullets. The excitement in this city is intense and more trouble may follow.” 

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Allen’s body was mangled, with blood smeared all along the pole he swung from. Two placards were placed on the two poles opposite Allen’s body that read: “Thus they die who mistreat our women” and “All idle negroes are ordered to leave town immediately.” 

Aftermath of Walter Allen’s Lynching

Allen’s body remained swinging on the light pole for 12 hours until 8:15 the following morning. 

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“They left Allen swinging midair and placed a lantern just in front of his face to enable the curious to see his countenance well…” 

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Before the Coroner Suddeth, could pull Allen down, new groups of curious onlookers, including hundreds of school children, came to witness the gruesome scene. People were photographing Walter Allen’s corpse. Hundreds of black people saw Allen’s body and were quoted as reacting to “little or no comment to make and were very orderly.” 

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The Rome Tribune reported that Walter Allen’s wife, Love Allen, telephoned from Gainesville that she would not come to get her husband’s body, and Walter Allen was buried as a pauper. The night was described by the Rome Tribune as the “wildest and most exciting incidents in the entire history of the city.” 

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