Contempt of Court The Turn-of-the-Century Lynching That Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism

by Curriden, Mark; Phillips, Leroy

• ISBN13: 9780385720823
• ISBN10: 0385720823
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-02-20
• Publisher: Anchor

Summary

In this profound and fascinating book, the authors revisit an overlooked Supreme Court decision that changed forever how justice is carried out in the United States. In 1906, Ed Johnson was the innocnet black man found guilty of the brutal rape of Nevada Taylor, a white woman, and sentenced to die in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Two black lawyers, not even part of the original defense, appealed to the Supreme Court for a stay of execution, and the stay, incredibly, was granted. Frenzied with rage at the deision, locals responded by lynching Johnson, and what ensued was a breathtaking whirlwind of groundbreaking legal action whose import, Thurgood Marshall would claim, "has never been fully explained." Provocative, thorough, and gripping,Contempt of Courtis a long-overdue look at events that clearly depict the peculiar and tenuous relationship between justice and the law.

Author Biography

Mark Curriden is the legal affairs writer for The Dallas Morning News. He lives in Dallas, Texas. Leroy Phillips, Jr., is a prominent trial attorney. He lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Preface	xiii
A Plea for Justice	3	(17)
Scene of the Crime	20	(14)
Someone Must Pay	34	(17)
Pretense of Law and Order	51	(27)
``Can You Swear It?''	78	(32)
The Jury's Verdict	110	(20)
Enter Noah Parden	130	(12)
The Appeals Begin	142	(12)
Writ of Habeas Corpus	154	(15)
The Supreme Court Intervenes	169	(19)
Gallows Disappointed	188	(10)
God Bless You All; I Am Innocent	198	(17)
The Honor of the Court	215	(21)
Secret Service Men	236	(20)
Supreme Jurisdiction	256	(29)
Sheriff Shipp on Trial	285	(32)
``Guilty, Guilty, Guilty!''	317	(20)
Epilogue	337	(16)
Appendixes	353	(22)
A Note on Sources	375	(2)
Bibliography	377	(8)
Sources for Illustrations	385	(2)
Index	387