"Keeper of the secret"

Several years ago, I heard about the lynching of a Black man while listening to a conversation between Henry Robertson and my father, Reece Boyd Johnson, Sr. The two men were talking about a hanging which took place some years before.

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The conversation was about Raymond Arthur Byrd, who had served his country well during World War One and honorably discharged for his service to his country in 1919. Byrd was hanged on August 15, 1926, because of an alleged mutual relationship with a white woman, which during this time was indeed a death sentence. Because of this love connection, Mr. Byrd lost his life to a lynch mob. 

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Hundreds of newspapers across the United States were published about this murder from August 1926, to January 1927. The papers rapidly spread the news of the Byrd hanging. It was found that in some cases, different accounts were reported. More than thirty individuals were interviewed to find that most gave the same account. 

The real reason I wrote this monograph (A Dearth Mob Gathered) is to attempt to clear the records of the Raymond Byrd lynching. This publication tells the true story which surrounds the murder of Raymond Byrd, from authentic interviews, letters, newspaper clippings and court records.  Until now, the secret has been kept but the story  of Raymond Byrd lynching will finally be told.

                                                                                                                                   -John Johnson, Author

BOOK CONTENTS:

• WHO WAS RAYMOND ARTHUR BYRD?
• WHO WAS GROVER CLEVELAND GRUBB?
• WHAT DID THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA KNOW ABOUT THAT NIGHT? 
• WAS THE SHERIFF'S DEPT. INVOLVED?
• CONTAINS (38) COURT RECORDS, NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS AND DOCUMENTS