Inside the COATESVILLE LYNCHING: Inside the murder of Edgar Rice in Coatesville PA using court documents with chilling details from the murder himself ... confession as well as many facts unearthed. - Softcover

Tallon, Janet Messner

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1461021847 ISBN 13: 9781461021841

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011

Synopsis

This book is a fresh look at this crime that took place in 1911 in Coatesville PA. A remarkable story written in a chronological sequence of events as they unfolded. Examinations of Grand Jury Testimony along with actual hearings reveal contributing factors that played a major part in the tragedy. A new paradigm begins when the actions of the Zachariah Walker, the killer, before and after the shooting of Edgar Rice present an alternative perspective on the story. The book reveals new information; the motive of the killer was self-preservation he had killed another man prior to his encounter with Rice and in order to avoid being arrested and facing punishment for the first killing he decided to kill the officer. Also revealed is his criminal history in Pennsylvania; in 1906 he was arrested for trying to shot two elderly black women, his sister provides more criminal background and the other men from Virginia who are also migrant laborers of the steel mill provide information on his crimes and prison record in that state. A totally new concept is uncovered showing Walker as a career criminal on a drunken crime spree that continued after he killed Officer Rice before he was apprehended. Uncovering the motivation for killing Rice as an attempt to escape detection of a previous murder he had committed brings a new mindset to the incident. In 1911 a negro wagon driver for a steel mill in Coatesville PA spent his day and evening drinking; that evening he attempted to rob two men at gun point, firing his pistol at them. Officer Edgar Rice a policeman for Worth Brothers mill and a commissioned office responded to the shots fired. A confrontation followed and Zachariah Walker shot and killed the officer. The killer went on the run for the next day while continuing his crime spree; robbing, assaulting and attempting another murder of a local man. When a posse finally found him, he attempted suicide; it failed and he was taken into custody. His wounds were treated and he was placed in the Coatesville hospital. Later on August 13, 1911 an angry mob breached the hospital, seized the prisoner still shackled to his bed and lynched him by burning him on a pyre a half mile from the hospital. The new book Inside the Coatesville Lynching explores the incident in depth using old newspaper articles and court testimony the author uncovers new information on the criminal background of the killer that weighs into rage which led to the lynching. The book includes the confession of Walker and the testimony of the Chief of Police, Officer Howe who was left in charge of the prisoner at the hospital and several other people including Officer Rice’s son, Vincent. Though the work does not exonerate the mob these new facts will let the reader understand the outrage that a community felt when they were faced with the information that this man admitted to a previous murder he committed and had now struck again, bragging that he was quicker on the draw than Rice and that he had killed him easy. Attorney W. MacElree in his book Side Lights on the Bench and Bar of Chester County, 1919 said “On August 12, 1911, Zachariah Walker committed a horrible crime. On August 13, 1911 Zachariah Walker suffered a horrible punishment”. Walker was taken from the hospital on 8/13/1911 and killed in a burning lynching.

About this title

About the Author

A native of Coatesville Pa the author was born 40 years after the events at Coatesville hospital on August 13th. She grew up in the Coatesville area and attended junior high at Brandywine South before moving out of state with her parents. She returned to Pennsylvania after her marriage and in 1982 along with the NOW women's law project in Philadelphia which changed its name to Legal Momentum in 2004, became the first women in the state who, along with her attorneys, the ERA Impact Project won the first state ERA case, Tallon v. Liberty Hose Company No. 1, supporting the right of Pennsylvania women to be volunteer firefighters. Her great-grand father Edgar Rice was often a topic at gatherings, especially the annual Rice family picnic and she grew up some vague knowledge of this event. Her interest in geneology and a lack of particulars began a search for more information and led to the writing of this book, hoping to fill some of the voids that have remained for the past 100 years.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1461021847
• ISBN 13: 9781461021841
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 500