The moment a little white girl pointed her finger at Elijah Clark and accused him of a crime, he had little hope of a fair trial. The night before his death, a mob of 150 white men, mostly employees of the then-functioning Dallas mill, set out in search of Clark. When they couldn’t track him down, Sheriff Fulgham started out early the next morning, and before nine o'clock had captured Clark at Beaverdam Creek, ten miles from Huntsville.

Soon word spread that Clark was being held at the prison, and a huge mob converged on the lawn of the courthouse. Sheriff Fulgham wired Governor Johnson for help. The governor replied that help was on the way via the Birmingham, Montgomery and Decatur militias. With the mob quickly increasing in size, the sheriff stuck his head out of the window of the jail and assured the crowd that a trial was set to begin as soon as possible. However, the mob disregarded his calls and charged forward. The wooden barrier to the outer jail was soon broken down, and the mob poured in the first floor. It is recorded that Sheriff Fulgham pulled his prisoner up to the third floor and locked himself in with him.

The Baltimore-American writes: “A large amount of tar, feathers and oil was secured and piled upon the cement floor of the jail, and a match applied. A suffocating smoke arose, and spread quickly throughout the jail. The sheriff retreated to the corner farthest from the fire, taking his prisoner with him. More tar and feathers were brought and ignited. Fulgham was finally dragged from the jail in a semi-conscious condition, and taken to the city hall, and doctors summoned… two men secured Clark and quickly appeared with him on the front steps of the jail. A plow line was placed around his neck, and guarded by twenty heavy-armed men in fours, he was dragged out of the jail yard. The mob was followed by fully 1,500 people.”

According to news reports, Clark then collapsed and his murderers had to carry him on their shoulders to what was then known as Moore’s Grove. They flung a rope over the limb of a large tree, threw Clark across the back of a horse and led the horse out from under him. His body was riddled with bullets. The news reports also states that the Decatur militia, who were supposedly rushing to attempt to stop the lynching, arrived shortly after.

Sources:

• The Sins of Madison County by Fred B. Simpson, Gay Campbell and Mary N. Daniel; Triangle, First Edition, 1999

• Article in the Baltimore American, July 24, 1900, http://www.blacknewsweekly.com/news135.html

• “That Alabama Lynching. ,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed March 21, 2020, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1316.