[Examination of Luther Williams, a defendant in the trial, by his attorney, Mr. Chamlee (6/19/1906).]
CHAMLEE: Is your name Luther Williams?
WILLIAMS: Yes, sir.
Q. Are you one of the defendants in this case?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where do you live, Mr. Williams?
A. My residence?
Q. Yes.
A. 214 West 6th Street.
Q. In Chattanooga?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Are you in business in Chattanooga?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What business are you in?
A. The saloon business.
Q. Where is your saloon located?
A. 630 Market Street.
Q. How long have you been living in Chattanooga?
A. I have been living in Chattanooga nearly seven years the last time.
Q. Had you lived in Chattanooga some time previous to that time?
A. When I was real young I did.
Q. Mr. Williams, do you remember the night that it is said that Ed Johnson was lynched, on the 19th of March, 1906?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where were you that night, previous to the lynching?
A. I was tending bar at my saloon.
Q. On Market Street?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What time did you hear, if you did hear, about there being any trouble at the jail?
A. Well, I should judge it was about 9:30.
Q. 9:30 in the evening?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you go up to the jail that night?
A. I did.
Q. Did you close you your saloon?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. When you to the jail what did you find up there? Did you find anybody?
A. Yes sir: I found quite a number of people.
Q. About what time was it when you got to the jail; do you know?
A. Well, it was between 9:30 and 10. I don’t know the exact time.
Q. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 o’clock?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you see anybody doing anything when you got to the jail?
A. Yes, sir; there was quite a number of men with an ax and hammer, I believe trying to cut the rivets off of door.
Q. In other words, the mob was at that time dong something to the jail?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. While that was happening did you go inside of the jail?
A. I did, yes, sir.
Q. What did you see inside, an where did you go?
A. Well, I went through the office of the jail and up, I think, one flight of stairs; I am not positive.
Q. Do you know which floor Johnson was on?
A. If I remember right, the jail is two stories in front and three in the rear, and I think there is one story over the office.
Q. Was Johnson on what we call the second story, the first story above the ground?
A. The third story in the rear, I believe; I am not certain.
Q. When you went up the steps did you see what the crowd was doing that was trying to break into the jail?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What were they doing?
A. Why, they were hammering on these rivets or bolts.
Q. Was that the circle door?
A. The door that led into the circle door, I believe.
Q. How is that door that leads into the circle door fastened, Mr. Williams? What kind of a door is it?
A. It is a heavy steel bar door, I believe...
Q. When that door is removed then they come to the circle door?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And when you were there they were working on this outside door?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long were you there on that flight of steps that you refer to?
A. I went up the flight of steps. I don’t know that I stopped on them. I went up near where they were hammering. I was there a very few minutes—a short time.
Q. Did you see anybody there that you knew?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you see the sheriff?
A. I did.
Q. Where was he?
A. As I went up the steps the sheriff was on the north side; that is, to my right, on the north side of the cells—what they call a hospital cell, I think.
Q. Was there anybody in possession of the sheriff at the time you saw him?
A. Yes, sir; there was several men around him.
Q. What were they doing with him, if anything?
A. Well, I suppose they was trying to keep him from getting away, from the conversation I heard.
Q. Then did you go down out of the jail?
A. I did; yes, sir.
Q. Did you see Johnson when he was brought out of the jail?
A. I stayed upstairs until they went through the circle and I went downstairs. I wasn’t upstairs when they brought him out from the cell. I either seen them with him in the yard or in the office downstairs.
Q. Did you have anything to do with cutting those doors or helping to get Johnson or lynching him, or anything of that kind?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you have anything at all to do with it?
A. No, sir.
Q. When you came outside did you see the crowd bring Johnson out?
A. I don’t know whether I was in the yard or in the office when they brought Johnson out.
Q. What I want to get at is, did you see Johnson and the crowd come out?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you have anything to do with helping to take him out of the jail or taking him to the ridge?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you follow the crowd or go along as they went towards the bridge?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you have anything to do with helping to lynch Johnson?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you have anything to say, or did you aid anybody else in any way in lynching Johnson.
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you see him lynched at the bridge?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. After the lynching was over where did you go?
A. I went to the saloon and checked up the day’s sales, and went from there home.
Q. Did you have any pistol? Were you armed in any way?
A. No, sir.
Q. Out at the bridge, after the man had been lynched, did you walk up and shoot five bullets into him?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you shoot him at all, or have anything to do with shooting him?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you know anybody else that shot him?
A. No, sir.
Q. How far away were you from Johnson at the time that he was shot?
A. Well, when they hung him up they didn’t hang him in the center of the bridge; they hung him more on the east side of the bridge than they did the center, and I was afraid I might get shot myself or hurt, and I got out of the way and got on the west side of the bridge, against the banisters, so that nobody would be behind me.
Q. Was that where you were standing, over against the banisters of the west side of the bridge, at the time Johnson was shot?
A. Yes, sir; when they strung him up.
Q. Mr. Williams, did you know or had you heard previous to this lynching, on that day or any other time previous to this, that there was going to be any lynching of Ed Johnson that night?
A. That night?
Q. Yes.
A. No, sir; not a word.
Q. Did you have anything to do with it, or talk to anybody about getting up a crowd to lynch Johnson, or in any manner or in any way in the world have a thing to do with proposing or getting up this mob to lynch Johnson?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you have anything to do with the lynching after the mob got him, or help in any way to break the jail, or do anything that would aid in the lynching of Johnson?
A. No, sir.
Q. How came you to go up to the jail at all and to follow this mob, Mr. Williams?
A. Well, I was in the saloon at work, and some one came to the rear end of the saloon and asked me why I wasn’t up to the jail; and I asked him—
Q. I did not ask you for any of the conversation.
A. Some one came to the rear of the saloon and notified me that there was a mob up at the jail.
Q. What I was asking about was whether or not you went up to the jail for the purpose of helping lynch Ed Johnson or for some other reason.
A. Well, it was natural to go to a thing of that kind if you heard of it, as a spectator.
Q. Were you there at the jail and at the bridge, where the lynching occurred, simply as a spectator?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. I will ask you to state whether or not you went there for the purpose of taking any part or having any hand whatever in the lynching of Ed Johnson?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you have any mask on, or were you in any way disguised?
A. No, sir.
Q. You spoke about seeing the sheriff. Were you acquainted with the sheriff previous to that time?
A. Well, I knew the sheriff by sight, the same as any other citizen did, and probably had spoken to him; but I don’t think the sheriff knew me.