Wesley Lawrence

Wesley Lawrence was a black man killed by a lynch-mob on the early morning of November 22, 1899.[1]

Wesley Lawrence
Died	November 22, 1899 Pensacola

Lawrence had been accused, but neither charged nor convicted, of assaulting a Mrs. W. M. Bowman at her home in McDavid. A mob of armed citizens began a search for Lawrence, eventually locating him near Canoe, Alabama (near Atmore). They then carried him to Mrs. Bowman's home, where he was "positively identified"; he was then taken to a nearby tree, where "near midnight, he was swung up and his body literally riddled with bullets."

A. C. Brewton, Sr., a resident of McDavid, wrote to the Pensacola Daily News in support of the lynching:

I do not believe in lynch law, but I do believe in lynching the fiend that commits the crime that Wes Lawrence committed. I am 72 years and 7 months of age. I am one among the oldest citizens of Escambia County, but when I heard this morning that they had lynched the brute that committed the outrage on Mrs. W. M. Bowman, I was overflowed with joy.