While growing as a teenager in Galion, Ohio in the 1960s, I heard the story I am sure was heard by most that lived there; "the last black person that lived in this town was hanged".
I always wondered if this story was a nasty rumor or the nasty truth. Living in Galion, you couldn't help but notice there were no blacks in our neighborhoods or schools. In fact the minority population currently remains very small in Galion (97% white). Some 50 years after first hearing the story of the "lynching, I decided to do a search for the truth. Sadly and not surprisingly I found the "nasty rumor" was indeed the "nasty truth".
My first verification of the truth came from a search of newspaper archives. After a few searches, there it was, staring me in the face, the cold dark truth from a May 2, 1882 article in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The seven headlines from that one article were as follows;
"MOB LAW.
Its Terrible Execution at Galion.
The Lynching of Frank Fisher in the Broad Light of Day.
For the Fiendish Crime Committed Upon Little Barbara Rettig.
Deaf in the Entreaties of the Mayor and Other Officers in Desist.
The Unmasked, Determined Mob Marches the Monster to His Death.
Recognized by His Victim - A Day of Intense Excitement - How the Work Was Finished."
I decided to keep digging and the more I did the worse the nightmare became. Not only was there a Black American hung in Galion in 1882, it was obvious the execution of Frank Fisher happened with the support of community leaders of Galion. Perhaps not surprising, for the time, the print media feed the flames of hate and outrage. The more I read about this public murder the more I felt the full story (as much as could be discovered) needed to be told.