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Unsolved case · 1917
Also known as Murder of Ell Persons · Killing of Ell Persons
Grave of Antoinette RappelCredit: Tthrail·CC BY-SA 4.0·Source
The short answer
In May 1917, Ell Persons, a Black woodcutter accused of the rape and decapitation of 15-year-old Antoinette Rappel near Memphis, Tennessee, was seized from custody by a mob and burned alive before a crowd of about 5,000. No one was ever charged in either death, and the lynching contributed to the founding of the Memphis NAACP.
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Suggest coverage for Lynching of Ell PersonsThe case file
On 30 April 1917, 15-year-old Antoinette Rappel, a student at Treadwell School in Memphis, Tennessee, disappeared on her way to school. She was later found dead in woods near Macon Road, close to the home of Ell Persons, a woodcutter of nearly fifty. She had been raped and decapitated with an axe. After arresting several Black men, police detained Persons and, according to contemporaneous press accounts, subjected him to roughly 24 hours of brutal interrogation by Sheriff Mike Tate, Deputy Sheriff M.W. Palmer, and City Detectives C. A. Brunner and J. W. Hoyle, after which police said he confessed. Authorities also exhumed Rappel's body in a since-discredited attempt to find an image of her killer preserved in her eyes. Persons was then transported to Tennessee State Prison in Nashville, encountering hostile crowds en route.
On 19 May, Sheriff Tate ordered Persons returned to Memphis to stand trial on 25 May. While being transported by train on 21 May, he was seized by an organized lynch party — reported as having monitored rail lines and possibly raised funds to track him in Nashville — after having earlier stormed Memphis police headquarters searching for him. County criminal court judges had unsuccessfully petitioned Governor Thomas Clarke Rye on 17 May to provide protection for Persons. According to researchers Margaret Vandiver and Michel Coconis, there is no evidence authorities attempted to recover Persons or prevent the lynching.
On the morning of 22 May 1917, local newspapers announced the time and place of the planned lynching. A crowd estimated at about 5,000 gathered near the Wolf River bridge on Macon Road in a reported "carnival" or "holiday" atmosphere, with vendors selling food and drinks and parents excusing children from school. Rappel's mother addressed the crowd, and the mob's leader offered her the chance to light the fire, which she declined. Persons was chained to a log, doused in gasoline, and burned alive. His body was subsequently dismembered; his remains, including his head, were driven to Beale Street — the center of Memphis's Black community — and thrown at Black pedestrians. Souvenir photographs of his head were later sold on postcards.
No one was charged in connection with either Rappel's killing or Persons's lynching. NAACP field secretary James Weldon Johnson investigated shortly afterward and found no positive evidence of Persons's guilt. In response, Rabbi William Fineshriber organized a congregational protest, and community leader Charles W. Cansler publicly condemned the lynching in a 1918 letter to Governor Rye. The lynching contributed to the founding of the Memphis branch of the NAACP in June 1917 by Robert Church Jr., Bert M. Roddy, and other Black businessmen; by 1919 it was reportedly the largest NAACP branch in the South. Historians have since described the event as one of the most vicious lynchings in American history and the last major incident of publicly sponsored racial violence in Memphis. Two historical markers commemorating the lynching were unveiled in 2017, and the lynching site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
11 dated entries · 1917–2017
Antoinette Rappel disappears on her way to Treadwell School in Memphis, Tennessee.
A newspaper reports, apparently erroneously, that Rappel left home to join the war effort.
Rappel is found dead and decapitated in woods near Macon Road; Ell Persons is arrested and, after prolonged interrogation, is reported by police to have confessed.
County criminal court judges unsuccessfully ask Governor Thomas Clarke Rye to send protection for Persons.
Sheriff Mike Tate orders Persons returned to Memphis to stand trial on 25 May.
Persons is seized from a train by a lynch party while being transported back to Memphis.
Persons is burned alive near the Wolf River bridge on Macon Road before a crowd of about 5,000; his remains are later dismembered and displayed on Beale Street.
Clergy statement condemning the lynching, organized with the help of Rabbi William Fineshriber, is published in local newspapers.
Founding meeting of the Memphis branch of the NAACP, with 53 members.
Charles W. Cansler writes a letter to Governor Rye condemning the lynching.
A historical marker commemorating the lynching is unveiled at the site on the 100th anniversary of the event; a second marker is erected at Summer Avenue and Bartlett Road by the Memphis Branch NAACP, the National Park Service, and the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis.
2 named in this file
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
15-year-old Memphis schoolgirl found raped and decapitated near Macon Road in May 1917; no one was ever tried for her killing.[3]
Black woodcutter lynched (burned alive and dismembered) on 22 May 1917 after being accused, based on a disputed confession, of the rape and murder of Antoinette Rappel; no one was ever charged for his killing.[3]
3 cited
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Official / agencynps.govAccessed Jul 7, 2026
Presshmdb.orgAccessed Jul 7, 2026
EncyclopedicWikipediaAccessed Jul 7, 2026
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