Notes |
- Per Larry Herrin:
!NOTES: Josiah & James Harvey Gilliland, Jr. were lynched by a mob for the
killing of John McHargue. The church records of Flatlick Baptist Church of
Christ mentions that these two brothers were hung. It also lists member John
McHargue as shot. Elston Herrin told me in January of 1990 that his father
Joseph Herrin told him about the hanging. He said the mob told them they could
pray before they were hung. While praying the school superintendent, Mr.
Farmer, kicked one of the brothers in the face and knocked him over. Dad said
that Farmer became so destitute before he died that he was selling merchandise
door-to-door, and did not have a place to sleep. Dad also said he was so dirty
and disrespected, they wouldn't even let him sleep in the jail. There is a
copy of the family Bible of Martha Gilliland Randall where Martha was lamenting
at the death of her brothers. She amd "ma" knew they were innocent. Thelma
Herrin, wife of Lem, has a photocopy of the sheets of the Bible.
|