Talk:David Alexander

Would the police officer have been William Burnham? He's the only one from this list that seems to fit the timeline. --Admin 14:18, 6 December 2007 (CST)

Unfortunately the source is not any more specific... But I would think it would have been a city policeman because the source did mention Frank Dent Sanders having been involved in the ordeal in some fashion. I will try to post the whole passage here on the discussion page asap. dcosson ··· talk 17:35, 6 December 2007 (CST)

The passage: The lynching on April 5, 1909, of Dave Alexander who had confessed the murder of a policeman produced official and public condemnation unlike the lynching of Shaw. In this instance the lynching party reportedly wore masks, surprised the guard and carried out the lynching "in a quiet manner". Chief of Police, Frank Sanders arrived on the scene and testified later at the coroner's inquest that no one in the mob was recognised. The City Council condemned the lynching mob and stated "its deep humiliation at the defiance of all law, as constituting a blot on the character of the city." The Journal declared that only a few Pensacolians approved of the act; the vast majority did not. Rabbi Schwartz of Temple Beth-El was most vehement in his denunciation, including also a statement about the Leander Shaw incident as a "disgraceful affair" and the "orgy of last summer". He appealed to the city's new era ideals, declaring, "We are boasting of Pensacola's progress these days, and its destiny to become a great city. How far off such dreams ... the backwoods performance of last night...!" Indeed, had there been complicity or at least sympathy between the police and the lynching mob? One white prisoner declared the mob wore no masks and that a policeman opened the cell door and said "goodbye nigger" to Dave Alexander. A Grand Jury probe of the incident later indicted a bayman who lived on Baylen and Cedar for the lynching, but he was judged not guilty.