Springfield is forever haunted by an event that happened on this date in 1906. An angry mob abducted three Black men on false charges of rape and robbery and lynched them on the public square. Horace Duncan and Fred Coker were arrested with no evidence and forcibly taken from the jail to the square where the two innocent men were hanged.
The incited crowd then returned to the jail and abducted another man, Will Allen, who was also marched to the square and hanged.
Many Blacks living in Springfield fled the city, and its Black population decreased significantly in the years that followed.
Based upon content from the book Missouri 365: This Day in Missouri History by John W. Brown, broadcaster and Missouri historian. Get your copy at Reedy Press.
Photo from Unsplash
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