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    Vinegar Gang Lynching - Sis Vinegar's Story (Based On True Events)
    Vinegar Gang Lynching - Sis Vinegar's Story (Based On True Events)
    Vinegar Gang Lynching - Sis Vinegar's Story (Based On True Events)
    Ebook105 pages1 hour

    Vinegar Gang Lynching - Sis Vinegar's Story (Based On True Events)

    By Napoleon Crews

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    About this ebook

    On June 2, 1882 at about 9:30 p.m., David Bausman met death at the Kaw River while engaging in sexual intercourse with 14 year-old Sis Vinegar. Bausman was set upon by George Robinson, Sis’ boyfriend, and his friend Isaac King. On June 10, 1882 at about 1:00 a.m., a mob broke into the Douglas County Jail, removed Robinson, King, and Pete Vinegar, Sis’ father, and dragged them to the Kaw River Bridge and lynched them, one by one. Sis was spared the rope.

    The coroner’s inquest determined that Bausman, an upstanding, well-to-do, white citizen of Lawrence and former soldier in the Civil War, was lured to the Kaw River bottoms by Sis Vinegar, a Negro prostitute. Bausman was robbed, beaten to death, and his battered body thrown into the water by the ‘Vinegar bunch.’ News articles described the Vinegar family as a den of outcasts, beggars, and thieves. Lawrence attorneys refused to represent Sis. She pled guilty and was sentenced to a life in prison at the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas. Sis died of tuberculosis, contracted from another inmate, seven years into her sentence.

    Margaret ‘Sis’ Vinegar has never told her story, until now that is. Even a casual consideration of the facts and evidence points to a monumental miscarriage of justice, and three important questions arise. Was Bausman truly the upstanding citizen he was portrayed to be? Did Sis Vinegar and her family rightfully earn the labels of beggars and thieves? Why was it crucial to the Free State Cause that the Vinegars’ due process rights be severed and the lynch mob interposed as the best resolution for the Lawrence Community and the State of Kansas?

    Sis Vinegar’s Story is told through Negro Attorney John Waller, who actually sought a governor’s pardon for Sis. John Waller is aided by his wife Susan, an articulate and forceful woman. The Wallers are joined by Lawrence, Kansas’ only Negro police officer, who was actually on the force at the time of the lynching. Sam’s reputation included excellent investigative skills.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNapoleon Crews
    Release dateMar 29, 2015
    ISBN9781311522023
    Vinegar Gang Lynching - Sis Vinegar's Story (Based On True Events)
    Author

    Napoleon Crews

    Napoleon Crews began writing his first manuscript, for publication, in 1990. He was told often throughout his life, that he had a special way with words and empathy. The gift of writing culminated in Napoleon penning 9 completed manuscripts, some of which are short stories and others are longer novel-length works. In addition, he has written and produced 3 dramatic plays of an historical bent. Unable to find a national publisher for other of his works, Napoleon self-published and distributed them throughout the Midwest, where they have been popular. The driving force behind the first published manuscript, The Emancipation of Nate Bynum, was Napoleon’s desire to tell the unknown stories about the integral part that Blacks played in the American Civil War and the Wild West, and to right the wrongs of early historical writers who depicted Blacks, women, and other minorities as inept, weak-minded, and inferior to their white counterparts. Napoleon poured his experience as a cowboy, rodeo team roper, private investigator, martial artist, bodyguard, and trial lawyer into the building of his characters. He used family legends and oral and written history to form his plots. When he describes the way a horse moves, a steer bolts, or a punch is thrown, he’s rode the move, headed off the bolt, and threw the punch. His experience as a practicing trial lawyer is used to craft the many legal and ethical dilemmas in which his characters find themselves. Napoleon resides with his wife and family in Lawrence, Kansas, the seed-bed in which the buddings of the American Civil War were sewn. He still practices law 50 to 60 hours per week, and many of his nights are reserved for writing and polishing his manuscripts with a view for future publication.

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      Book preview

      Vinegar Gang Lynching - Sis Vinegar's Story (Based On True Events) - Napoleon Crews

      June 1889

      Lawrence, Kansas

      An old skeleton fell out of our closet this morning.

      Attorney John Waller’s forehead wrinkled. By nature, his wife Susan was a forceful and articulate woman. He had no idea why she had chosen to open this subject by talking in metaphors.

      He peered over the edge of the evening newspaper into Susan’s tightly drawn, brown face. Normally self-composed, she now exhibited full-blown, African, female anger of the kind no reasonable husband could withstand.

      He laid the newspaper down on the table and exhaled so deeply it was almost a groan.

      This is going to be bad. I have no idea what has her wound so tightly, and it is clear I will not easily brush her off.

      A skeleton you say? John asked.

      It reminded me of the one time we failed miserably to stand up for the rights of someone who desperately needed us, Susan said. I have never been as ashamed as I was at that moment.

      John’s mind quickly reflected back over many things, but he could not choose the apparent nightmare to which Susan referred. His ascendency to prominence and respectability as a newspaper publisher, politician, and now as a lawyer in Kansas had not been accomplished without certain tradeoffs, a few of which he was not proud.

      He gazed into Susan’s eyes, trying to read her thoughts and avoiding the question he knew he had to ask.

      Our church group visited the women prisoners at Lansing today, Susan finally said, slowly sitting back in the chair, her straight back slumped.

      John knew the Leavenworth facility well. He lived on the grounds of the federal prison when he served as steward from 1885 through the fall of 1886.

      The tension gripping him eased. He could not think of anything or anyone at the Lansing facility that could come back to haunt them.

      I’ve expressed strong feelings to the church women about getting involved with the female prisoners, he said. I must forbid you from making further trips if it continues to upset you like this.

      I met a most interesting young woman, Susan continued. I didn’t remember her at first. But when she began telling me her story, I remembered.

      He crossed his arms and shook his head.

      I am tired of going through this scene every time she goes to that prison.

      The women are as incorrigible as the men, John said. Each has a heart-wrenching story about—

      This one’s story made me ashamed of me, us, and all of the so-called upstanding citizens who lived in Lawrence at the time, Susan said.

      John’s fingers drummed impatiently on the tabletop.

      I hate this suspense.

      When do you propose to tell me who it is that made you ashamed to be married to me? John asked.

      Susan’s shoulders dropped and she sat forward in the chair.

      I did not say or mean to imply that I did not cherish our marriage, Susan said.

      Then please stop rambling around this problem so that I can address it, John said.

      Margaret Vinegar, Susan said, almost in a whisper.

      I am not aware of how or why this Margaret Vinegar can cause such an up stir in my home and make my wife ashamed of me, John said.

      We know her as Sis, his wife said. Sis Vinegar.

      That murderer, he said. How can she possibly be a skeleton in our closet?

      Because you, me, and the whole damned town stood by and watched her go to prison without lifting a finger—a finger, John.

      The coroner’s jury found that she enticed Bausman so that her two accomplices could rob him, he said. Don’t you remember that they ended up killing him? You seem to have forgotten about the notorious Vinegar Gang.

      Susan slammed her tiny fist down on the table.

      This is the first time I’ve heard you condone that travesty of justice, she said. I hope your mind hasn’t changed about the lynching as well.

      John sat erect. They beat that white man to death for his money. What did they think the white community was going to do, make them saints?

      He fell back in the chair and scrubbed his forehead with his hand.

      That was the dumbest thing I could have said.

      Susan’s hands went to her sides and she shook her head, with what emotion he could not tell.

      What I cannot determine, Susan said. You are intelligent, sensitive, and one of the best lawyers I’ve ever heard argue a cause, especially for the poor and needy. Why are you so unreasonably defensive regarding the Vinegar Lynching?

      John recoiled and his eyes narrowed.

      I’m the lawyer and do like being cross examined by you.

      I’m not being defensive, John said. All of Lawrence knew that the Vinegar bunch killed Bausman for the wealth in his wallet. And your precious Margaret Vinegar was the one who lured him to the riverbank with a promise of sex.

      Pray tell me, Susan said. How did the entirety of Lawrence know all of that?

      Are you not forgetting that all of the murderers confessed? John asked.

      You still haven’t told me why you are so much on the defensive, Susan said.

      John picked up the newspaper and pretended to read. He didn’t want to talk about the Vinegar Lynching anymore. Although he was not prepared to admit it to Susan, he felt the same shame that she felt and perhaps more.

      We can’t change the past, Susan, John said. And, I don’t understand why you are beating me over the head with this matter now.

      Susan got up from the table, then came and stood beside him with her hand on his shoulder. I’m asking you to visit Sis Vinegar and listen to her story. Susan’s unwavering eyes settled on him.

      What good will that do? he asked. The murder and lynching occurred more than seven years ago.

      The people need to know the truth.

      John put down the newspaper and studied his wife. She was a determined woman not easily discouraged when her mind was set. He could not understand why Margaret Vinegar’s story was so important to her.

      We have got to get back to Topeka tomorrow, John said. Quite frankly, I cannot build my Topeka law practice if we continue to spend most of our time in Lawrence.

      She’s dying, John, Susan said. The real story will perish with here if you don’t go. We owe her that much.

      CHAPTER 2

      The clock in the hallway struck two o’clock and John had not yet been asleep. Susan lay beside him. She had tossed about for what seemed like hours, but now her breathing sounded deep and regular. Sis Vinegar had her more bothered than any of the racial matters and political situations with which she has dealt over the years on behalf of the disadvantaged.

      As quietly as he could, he rolled to the edge of the bed, slowly lowered his feet to the floor, and fished for his slippers.

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