Bunk Richardson

Bunk Richardson was abducted from the Etowah County Jail in Gadsden, Alabama, by a large white mob in the middle of the night on February 11, 1906, and lynched, despite never having been charged with any crime. In July 1905, three men had been accused of raping and murdering a white woman; Richardson was not involved but was arrested anyway because he knew one of the suspects. Two of the actual suspects were later tried, convicted, and executed; the third, Will Johnson, was also convicted and sentenced to death, but Alabama Governor William Jelks, doubting his guilt, commuted the sentence to life in prison. That commutation of a stranger's sentence sparked outrage in Gadsden, and a mob responded by seizing Richardson — who had no connection to the original crime beyond an acquaintance — dragging him through the streets, and hanging him from train trestles over the Coosa River. His relatives were forced to flee town and abandon their businesses. No one was ever charged in Richardson's death, and the site went without any public acknowledgment for 110 years until a historical marker was dedicated in 2016.

Gadsden, AL · Etowah County County

• 1906: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The original 1905 rape and murder accusation, Richardson's unrelated arrest, and his lynching, per the Equal Justice Initiative's documented account and contemporary Gadsden newspaper coverage reproduced at the time of the marker's 2016 dedication.
• Richardson was arrested in July 1905 alongside three actual suspects in the case solely because he was acquainted with one of them; he was not accused of participating in the underlying crime.
• A mob of roughly 300 people gathered at the Gadsden jail intending to lynch all four prisoners shortly after their arrest, but was successfully held back, and the men were transferred to Jefferson County for safekeeping the following day.
• Two of the three actual suspects, Jack Hunter and Vance Gardner, were tried, convicted, and executed for the crime; the third, Will Johnson, was also convicted and sentenced to death, but Governor William Jelks, doubting Johnson's guilt, commuted his sentence to life imprisonment.
• The governor's commutation of Johnson's sentence — not any new accusation against Richardson himself — is what sparked the outrage that led directly to the mob action against him.
• A mob seized Richardson from the Etowah County Jail in the middle of the night on February 11, 1906, dragged him through the streets of Gadsden, and hanged him from train trestles crossing the Coosa River.
• Richardson's relatives were forced to abandon thriving businesses and flee Gadsden following his lynching, while the broader Black community in the city lived in fear.
• No one was ever charged in connection with Richardson's death; the Equal Justice Initiative, in partnership with the City of Gadsden and Gadsden Reads, dedicated a historical marker commemorating the lynching in December 2016, 110 years after it occurred.

• The identities of the mob members who abducted and lynched Richardson were never officially documented or prosecuted, despite the lynching occurring in a populated area of Gadsden and drawing significant local attention at the time.
• The specific reasoning that led authorities to arrest Richardson in the first place, given he was acknowledged even by contemporary accounts to have had no connection to the underlying crime beyond acquaintance with one suspect, has not been fully documented beyond the general practice of the era.
• What became of Richardson's relatives after they were forced to flee Gadsden and abandon their businesses has not been documented in the sources reviewed for this summary.

• Equal Justice Initiative — “EJI Dedicates Lynching Marker in Gadsden, Alabama, for Bunk Richardson”
• AL.com — “'I'm So Proud of my City Right Now': Gadsden Dedicates Lynching Marker”
• The Gadsden Times — “Progress Through Recognition: Marker for Lynching Victim Dedicated”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs