The Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1931-1952, 1934-11-22
Secret InterraCial Romance
Cause Of Florida Lynching

the relationship existing between
herself and Neal and that the IA
tai meeting was prearranged for
the purpose of arriving at some
understanding. At a meeting In the
woods Miss cannidy told Neal she
did not want him to speak to her
again and that If he did so she'd
tell the white men in the commune
ity on him. (should Miss Cannidy
have told on him" 1t would have
meant certain death) When she
told Neal that she wanted to quit"
and further threatened to tell on
him. he got mad and killed her"
Neal later told a friend what had
happened. Neal is reported to have
told the friend, "When she said she
didn't want me to speak to her and
then told me that she'd tell the
white men on me, just got mad
and killed her"
Neal was arrested for the muir
der on October 10 and a "confes-
sion" was said to have been wrung
from him during private question
ing in a clump of woods. Sheriff
w. F. Chambliss, aware Of the
lynching spirit, ordered Neal taken
to Chipley, Fla, 20 miles away.
Angry Chipley crowds caused the
sheriff there to order Neal moved
to Panama City. From there he
was taken across the state line to
Brewton, Ala. Brewton is 210
miles from Mariana. The inves-
tigator charges the removal from
Pensacola to Brewton was equiva-
lent to lynehing Neal. He said the
prisoner should have been kept In
Pensacola or moved to Mobile.
The investigator was informed
that prominent business man Of
Mariana had arranged with his
friends in Pensacola to inform him
when Neal was removed from that
city. AS soon as it was learned
Neal was in the little town of
Brewton, thirty automobiles set
out from Florida and took Neal
from the Brewton Jail early on the
morning of October 20.
No little credit for the stirring
up of mob frenzy must go to the
Mariana Daily Times-Courier
which printed stories under the fol-
lowi = headlines:
You Can't Know How II Hurts
Unless This Happens to You,
States Father Of Young
slain Girl
Wish Every Resident of jackson
County Could See LoIa's Body,
Says Slain Girls Sister
The fathers statement contain
ed the sentence, when get my
hands on that Niger there isn't
any telling what I'll do"
The sisters statement contained
the sentence, whoever killed her
well, 1 don't believe any form of
punishment could fit the crime"
With their screaming prisoner
in the first car, the caravan of
cars streaked back from Brewton
to Mariana over highway No. 231.
When they arrived they found their
newspaper announcement and a
radio broadcast from Dothan,
Ala. station, was bringing crowds
from all over the South. "a COM
mittee" decided to take Neal to the
woods and torture him, meanwhile
announcing that he would not be
killed until the crowd grew small
er. They were afraid someone
would get hurt in the crush"
The Middle Ages, renowned in
history for barbaric torture can
show few cases more cruel and
CHASTITY and none as nauseating as
the torturing and lynching of Neal
in Florida in 1884.
An eyewitness told the N.A.A.
C.P. investigator that parts of his
body were cut off and he was made
to eat them.
Then they sliced his sides and
stomach with knives and every
now and then somebody would cut
off a finger or toe. Red hot irons
were used on the Niger to burn
him from top to bottom" From
time to time during the torture a
rope would be tied around Meals
neck and he was pulled over a
limb and held there until he almost
choked to death when he would be
cut down and the torture begin all
over again. After several hours of
this unspeakable torture, "they de-
cided just to kill him."
Meals body was tied to a rope
on the rear of an automobile f-nd
dragged over the highway to the
Cannidy home. Here a mob esti-
mated to number somewhere be-
tween 5000 and 1000 from eleven
southern states were excitedly a
waiting his arrival. When the car
which was dragging Neal's body
came in front of the Cannidy home
a man who was riding the rear
bumper cut the rope.