A quiet church night in 1890 turns violent when 18-year-old Rosa Cannon reports being attacked and sexually assaulted by an intruder in her home. Suspicion very quickly falls on Willie Leaphart. But this individual story brings into sharp focus issues of race, class and power in 19th-century Lexington, SC. Rosa tells her own story of that night in an archival police statement.

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Bristow Marchant is the reporter on this podcast. It is a a production of The State and McClatchy, and produced by Loumay Alesali, Jennifer Molina, Kata Stevens, Hrisanthi Pickett and Joshua Boucher. Special thanks to Don Blount, Sarah Ellis and Jeff Wilkinson.