The incident is believed to be the first forceful suppression of a lynch mob by state and local officials in the South. Morrow received a laudatory telegram from the NAACP, and most of the national press regarding the incident was favorable. W. E. B. Du Bois called it the "Second Battle of Lexington". Morrow was consistent in his use of state troops to end violence in the state. In 1922, he again dispatched the National Guard to quell a violent mill strike in Newport.