MR. WILSON PRAISES ATTORNEY FOR PREVENTING LYNCHING
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On July 30, 1922, the Sunday Star reports that former President Woodrow Wilson has written a letter in praise of Attorney Thomas H. Lyon of Manassas, Virginia "who recently prevented the lynching of Alvin Harper," an African-American.
The letter, signed by John Randolph Bolling*, Mr. Wilson's secretary, reads...
"(Mr. Wilson) desires me to express...his thanks as an American citizen and a native of Virginia."
Alvin Harper, who had killed a law officer attempting to make an arrest, was induced by Mr. Lyon to surrender by promising to provide him protection from violence. After giving up, Harper was taken to jail in Alexandria.
*John Randolph Bolling, Woodrow Wilson's brother-in-law, served as acting secretary to the former POTUS after he left the White House. Ironically, the Bollings were among the oldest members of Virginia's slave-owning planter elite & were staunch supporters of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
SOURCE
"Former President Wilson Lauds Virginian Who Rescued Negro," The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., July 30, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
