| The Sins of Madison County |
With an intriguing title like The Sins of Madison County, you'd expect to the find all the dirty laundry of the county in the 359 pages of this new book. Actually, it would probably take more pages than that to name all our sins and so, thankfully, the authors had kept the time period for this first book to the years 1878-1904. This was the "Lynching Era" for Madison County, a period of shame, prejudice, self-righteousness, and passion when terrible crimes were committed in the name of justice. The book chronicles 6 lynchings where 9 people were hung from a tree, including one white man and two black women.
Attorney Fred B. Simpson has spent the major portion of his life involved with violence and hideous crimes. A Birmingham native, Simpson has served as a police officer, a private investigator, District Attorney of Huntsville-Madison County, and, currently, as a defense attorney specializing in murder cases. A combination of his interest in genealogy, history, and access to criminal files led to Simpson's desire to look more closely at the 36 capital murders documented for Madison County. Mr. Simpson was responsible for six of those convictions during his term as District Attorney. A capital murder is defined as a murder conviction that receives the death penalty. However while researching the capital murders, Simpson came upon six other incidents that had to be told--all involved lynching,--and became the subject of The Sins of Madison County. Fred B. Simpson is also an accomplished artist and photographer and designed the cover of The Sins of Madison County.
Simpson was joined in his literary efforts by two very able researchers, Mary Daniel, a former teacher, and Gay Campbell, a genealogist and historian. Their love of history and the desire to tell the true stories of Madison County lead to the present book. Court records and newspaper clippings were used to verify every detail and only parts of the stories that were found to be authentic are included in the book.
Several bonus features are found in The Sins of Madison County. As the stories of the six incidents of lynchings are reveled, you get a glimpse of the early days of Huntsville as she struggled to deal with the rapid change that had been thrust upon her and how life was lived immediately following the War Between the States. Plantation owners had been accustomed to dealing with crime and punishment of their slaves themselves; now they had to wait for the judicial system to work when the freed slaves broke the law. Sometimes, the citizens of Madison County felt the justice system didn't work at all or fast enough. And that's when some took things into their own hands, and others stood around and watched, silently condoning the atrocities.
This book is a rich treasure of personal histories of over 250 people living in Madison County during the 26 years the book covers. Not only the main characters are written about, but each chapter ends with biographical sketches of witnesses, jurors, and neighbors. Another interesting addition to the book is the listing of historical events that were taking place in the year of the crime for the World, the United States, the state of Alabama, and Madison County. Including these events helps the reader to visualize more accurately what life was like at that particular time in history.
The authors have just finished another book, entitled Historic Downtown Huntsville--Now and Then. It includes photographs of Huntsville's early downtown accompanied by an identical photograph of the same location as it looks today. The book is due out in the fall, 2000. A second book is in progress for the remaining capital murders in Madison County.
Related Sites
Genealogy
Resources for researching genealogy and history in Alabama, the
South, the Civil War, and in general.
Old Huntsville
Magazine
Homespun stories that make you wonder if they are really true or
not; plus some serious old-time stuff like the 1859 City
Directory and listings for Maple Hill Cemetery.
The Sins of
Madison County
See a picture of the book and read a book review that
was published in the Huntsville Times.
Without
Sanctuary
Here you'll find photographs and a movie of lynchings
throughout America, an overview and a forum to post comments.
