Frank Foukal Lynching - Part 2

     The Atlanta Constitution said under a July 8, 1919, headline, 28 WHITE MEN HELD FOR FOUKAL LYNCHING, that more than 50 witnesses had been summoned to appear before a Baldwin County grand jury. It was reported that a number of those under arrest had signed confessions concerning Frank Foukal's lynching. The grand jury impaneled to hear the case consisted of 15 men designated in the article as "farmers," one a "timber man," one a "merchant," and one – Oscar Johnson, grand jury foreman – a "real estate operator."

28 White Men Held For Foukal Lynching
July 8, 1919
The Atlanta Constitution

     Bay Minette, ALA., July 7. - Over fifty witnesses have been summoned to appear before the Baldwin County grand jury which convened today following Governor Kilby's firm stand and recent announcement that the slayers of Frank Foukal shall be apprehended and tried. Indications are that the grand jury will be in session most of the week.

     In addition to the testimony of the half hundred witnesses, the inquisitors will have presented to them signed confessions of a number of the twenty-eight men already under arrest and who told all about the killing of Foukal immediately after their incarceration in the Bay Minette jail.

     Judge A E Gamble, who called the grand jury in special session, this morning delivered a lengthy address to the inquisitors. He explained the law appertaining to the finding of indictments for murder and for conspiracy to murder. Judge Gamble urged the grand jury to make a thorough investigation into the case and also cautioned them not to be prejudiced in any way by public sentiment.

     The grand jury is composed of the following:

Oscar Johnson, real estate operator, foreman
Scott Higby, farmer
George Thornton, farmer
William J. Lambert, farmer
Reuben J. Bryars, timber man
Maurice Cain, farmer
Henry Gulledge, farmer
Noah Deak, farmer
Pierce E. Holmes, farmer
Benjamin Griffith, merchant
Lewis N. Bean, farmer
Jesse E. Nelson, farmer
William M. Ruble, farmer
Orlow T. Brooke, farmer
Clayton B. Hadley, farmer
John W. Hadley, farmer
Charles H. Bryars, farmer
Reuben E. Stapleton, farmer

     The aftermath of Frank Foukal's lynching produced a number of stories concerning those alleged to have had roles in his death. One of the more offbeat and shocking was recounted in The Huntsville Daily Times on July 13, 1919. It concerned Rudolph Pierce, one of the men indicted in the lynching. According to the newspaper, Pierce had been confined to jail but was released on bond on the charge of conspiracy to lynch Frank Foukal. It was reported by the Daily Times that Pierce's friends said he had "been brooding over his connection with the case." That, it was concluded, is what drove the man insane and led to him shooting his 9-year-old son.

     "He it is said suddenly picked up a shot gun which was standing in the corner of the room in which he had been talking to members of his family and fired directly at the little boy. The entire load took effect in the child (sic) foot and leg shattering the bone. The leg was totally amputated. Pierce who is not in jail seems to be stunned by his act."

     The same newspaper on July 15, 1919, reported that Sim Andrews of Fairhope, a former town constable and deputy sheriff in Baldwin County, pleaded insanity in connection with his role in the lynching. The basis of his insanity plea was bullet wounds to the head he had received five years earlier.

     Walter Bishop, identified as a preacher and brother of Robert Bishop, was found insane by the court and was to be sent to the "insane asylum at Tuscaloosa." Walter Bishop was quoted in the July 18, 1919, Daily Times as saying the following about his role in the lynching: "I prayed God to give me light as I have never prayed before. I tried to be satisfied with the situation but I could not. I knew it to be the work of God as no sparrow falls except by His hand."

     The Baldwin Times on July 24, 1919, reporting on convictions in the lynching cases – "Two to Penitentiary, Two to Lunatic Asylum; Others Given Fines Ranging from $1000 Down to $100" – quoted Walter Bishop's testimony in court: "I prayed for three days to relieve my burden but got no relief. But I was commanded by the eternal God to go and do what I did do. From my God I felt it my solemn duty to do what I did."

     The Nevada State Journal in Reno couched the tragic events of Frank Foukal's death in a positive headline on July 19, 1919: LYNCHERS MAKE HISTORY IN ALABAMA; BOW TO LAW. "For the first time in the history of Alabama convictions and pleas of guilty were entered today in a lynching case in which a white man was the victim of a mob when in the Baldwin county (sic) court two men were convicted of complicity in the murder and given penitentiary sentences while twenty-eight other members of the same band entered pleas of guilty."

     The Baldwin Times also noted the historical significance of the lynching cases: "This is said to have been one of the first instances in the state where convictions were secured against white men connected with a lynching."

     Bill Young's assessment of what transpired in the trials of the mob members is pointed: "Justice was not served in the trials of those men."

     According to Young's account, 13 men ultimately went to trial in connection with Frank Foukal's death; nine of those were charged with first-degree murder and four with second-degree murder. The first man tried was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years. The second man was sentenced to 15 years on the same charge. Two of the men, members of Robert Bishop's family, were found insane and sent to the state asylum in Tuscaloosa. After pleading guilty to lesser charges, Young said the rest were given "very light sentences."

     Wrote Young in referring to the news account of convictions in the lynching trials and the $100 to $200 fines some received for their role in Frank Foukal's death: "In the same newspaper … was an article stating that there was a $500 fine for shooting Dove (sic) before September 16th of that year."

     Frankie Kucera of Silverhill is one of those who want to see the "Little Bohemian Hall" repaired and returned to its status as a cultural landmark in town. The "Little Hall" has played a role in some of his family's milestone events and, as the 74-year-old puts it, "I've danced there." Thus, he's been at the forefront of the Save the Little Hall Committee.

     Of those early Czech settlers who came to Silverhill, Kucera said they settled southwest of the present town and were pretty much "on their own. In time the Swedes and Czechs got together because of school," he said.

     Asked if he was familiar with the Frank Foukal lynching, Kucera said no. Asked if he had ever heard any talk about Czechs in Baldwin County during World War I being discriminated against, he again answered no. Indeed, Kucera said his late mother, Georgia, was a historian of sorts, and he never heard her mention any trouble the Czech people had as a result of being immigrants back in those early days. If anything, the Czechs were looked at "differently" after Czechoslovakia became a communist country in later years, Kucera said. "The Czech people have always been treated good as far as I know," Kucera said. "The Czech people have been accepted." The first edition of The Baldwin Times to appear following Frank Foukal's lynching (the issue dated June 26, 1919) took note of the fact that there was "great indignation" and "complete surprise" over the lynching incident on the part of the citizens of Bay Minette. A public meeting was held and was attended by ministers, attorneys and leading citizens, and $400 was raised for information about and prosecution of those who lynched a man who, "While of Bohemian extraction …," was described as a "fine farmer" and "good citizen."

     Still, it is the nature of a lynching that the "mob" tends to be the establishment in a hanging or shooting incident such as Frank Foukal's, the "Bohemian." The Baldwin Times took time to editorialize upon that very point, probably without recognizing it as such.

     "Among the men indicted are a number of well known citizens of the southern part of the county, of some of the best and oldest families in that section, men who have always been highly regarded in the church, lodges and political affairs of the county. While in no wise defending the mob spirit or defiance of the law, many friends of the men under arrest, who have always known them as respected citizens, hope that many of them will be able to prove their innocence, and numerous have been the expressions of sympathy for the accused and their families."

     Continue to part 3, Ethnic confusion, discrimination: A factor in Foukal lynching?