Moore's Ford Bridge Murders: Part One | Claire Farley and Holly Hughes

The Moore's Ford lynchings, or the 1946 Georgia lynching, refer to the brutal murders of four young African Americans by a mob of white men on July 25, 1946.

The incident took place near Moore's Ford Bridge in Walton and Oconee counties, Georgia. The victims were two married couples: George W. and Mae Murray Dorsey, and Roger and Dorothy Malcolm. The case attracted national attention, prompting large protests in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

President Harry Truman created the President's Committee on Civil Rights and introduced anti-lynching legislation in Congress, but it was blocked by the Southern Democratic bloc. The FBI investigated the case in 1946 but could not find sufficient evidence to charge anyone. The cold case was reopened in the 1990s, but the state of Georgia and the FBI closed their cases in December 2017 without any prosecution.

In this episode of Zone 7, Crime Scene Investigator Sheryl McCollum is joined by Judge Holly Hughes and Assistant District Attorney Claire Farley, two experienced legal professionals and advocates for justice.

Together, they discuss a historical cold case involving sharecropping, economic servitude, and a flawed investigation. The team shares their experiences uncovering crime scene artifacts that remained hidden for decades and the challenges they faced when working with the FBI.

The conversation also covers the importance of unsealing grand jury records to gain invaluable insights and the search for truth and justice in this long-forgotten case.

Show Notes:

[0:00] Welcome back to Zone 7 with Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum. Sheryl details the last mass lynching in the United States. The Moore’s Ford Bridge lynchings, July 25th,1946 

[7:17] Sheryl introduces her guests, Judge Holly Hughes and Assistant District Attorney Claire Farley, who have extensive legal experience and are advocates for justice

[10:21] Holly explains the concept of sharecropping, which was a system that kept people in a cycle of economic servitude similar to slavery

[15:30] The discussion begins with the recovery of objects from the crime scene, highlighting the magnitude of the event

[16:00] Sheryl shares a story about growing up hunting arrowheads with her Granfather.

[17:24] Cold Case Investigative Research Institute

[19:30] The team describes the process of cleaning up the site and setting up grids for a more detailed examination

[20:38] The discovery of over a hundred bullets, fragments, casings, and artifacts, many dating back to pre-1950, is revealed

[24:02] It is noted that over 50 years later, the evidence was still waiting to be discovered 

[29:42] Question: Claire, you made a phone call because as an active DA, you said, let me call and see if they will come out and collect this evidence. Who did you call and what was their response?

[30:07] Claire shares her experience of calling the FBI to collect the evidence they found but encounters a lack of enthusiasm and support from the agent she spoke with

[33:06] Question: Claire, can you walk us through what happened with the 11th Circuit? 

[33:17] Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America

[33:44] Claire explains her desire for justice and truth in the case, emphasizing the importance of unsealing records to get closer to the truth and encouraging family members to come forward and tell their stories

[37:12] Question: Holly, how important would it be for us to be able to read actual testimony?

[37:14] Holly emphasizes the invaluable nature of being able to read actual testimony, asserting that it's "priceless" to know who the witnesses were and to explore the original investigation

[38:40] Sheryl raises questions about Lloyd Harrison's involvement in the case and how he seemed to be delaying actions, fueling suspicions

[44:49] Discussion about the suspicious and fast arrival of the newspaper during the investigation, raising questions about how they knew about the events

[47:47] “I have a lot of emotion left from the days of the murders. My whole family still carries scars.” -JH

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Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award-winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnline, a forensic and crime scene expert for “Crime Stories with Nancy Grace,” and a CSI for a metro-area Atlanta Police Department. She is the co-author of the textbook, “Cold Case: Pathways to Justice.”

McCollum is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a collaboration between universities and colleges that brings researchers, practitioners, students, and the criminal justice community. They come together to advance techniques in solving cold cases and assist families and law enforcement with solvability factors for unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnapping cases.

You can connect and learn more about McCollum’s work by visiting the CCIRI website https://coldcasecrimes.org

Social Links:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @ColdCaseTips

Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum

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