Chronology
Famous American Trials
.
The Trial of 
Sheriff Joseph Shipp et al. 

1907
 

Maps
Biographies
Jail Diagram
The Supreme Court Intervenes: Documents

    Sheriff Joseph F. Shipp, tried in the U. S. Supreme Court in 1907 (the only criminal trial in Supreme Court history)
     for his role in the lynching of Ed Johnson. 
The Trial of Sheriff Shipp: Transcript Excerpts
Supreme Court Decision
in the Shipp Case
Newspaper Accounts
Statistics on Lynching
The Shipp Trial: An Account
by  Douglas Linder  (c) 2000  


"I am ready to die. But I never done it. I am going to tell the truth. I am not guilty. I have said all the time
 that I did not do it, and it is true. I was not there. I know I am going to die and I have no fear to die
 and I have no fear at all....God bless you all. I am innocent." 

--The last words of Ed Johnson before he was lynched on the Walnut Street Bridge in Chattanooga on March 19, 1906.
.
  Famous Trials Homepage
A Chattanooga Sermon
Images 
  Bibliography