How Spilled Molasses Resulted in a Massacre

(1886) In February of 1886, Ed and Charley Brown, who were both part Indian and part African-American, were delivering molasses when they ran into James Liddell, a white man, spilling molasses on Liddell. A fight ensued in which Lidell and Ed Brown exchanged heated words. Later, Liddell, who was joined by a group of men, had another encounter with the Brown brothers. This encounter turned into a shootout during which Liddell was injured. The Brown brothers were jailed two days later. A white mob came to the jail, presumably looking for Ed Brown, but got the wrong prisoner. The armed and masked men demanded that Sheriff T.T. Hamilton turn over the keys to the jail. The mob then took Will McKinney, a nineteen year old African-American who had been convicted of manslaughter the year before, and shot and hung him.