Anthony “Andy” Johnson (Execution of)

Anthony “Andy” Johnson, an African American man described as a “desperado,” was hanged at Dumas (Desha County) on June 21, 1895, for murdering his wife’s lover in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County).

The 1880 federal census shows laborer Andy Johnson, age twenty-eight, living in Pine Bluff with his wife Rose, twenty-seven, and their three daughters. Laborer Howard Johnson, twenty-five, also lived in Pine Bluff with his wife Mattie, twenty-three, and their three children.

Andy Johnson was enslaved by Joseph William Bocage of Pine Bluff but after the Civil War became deeply involved in local Reconstruction politics. Although he was described as “quarrelsome, loud-mouthed and uneducated” and “a desperado…universally feared by his race,” he was elected as the bonded constable of Jefferson County’s Vaugines Township several times. While in office “he committed numerous crimes which, had it not been for his political ‘pull,’ would have sent him to the penitentiary”; the Arkansas Gazette later wrote that “a recital of his crimes would fill volumes.” (Vague allegations of corruption levied against African American officeholders were common in state newspapers at the time.)

Johnson’s wife reportedly became “very intimate” with Howard Johnson, and Andy Johnson allegedly shot him in the back and pistol-whipped her after finding them together at Pine Bluff on January 23, 1894. While news reports held that he remained in the area, he apparently fled to Texas. When she refused to join him there, he returned to Pine Bluff.

On the night of April 26, 1894, Howard Johnson answered his door and was shot, the bullet going through his body and breaking the arm of his sister-in-law Malinda Johnson. Though dying, he reportedly told a lawman that “the notorious and blood-thirsty hound, Andy Johnson, did the bloody and cowardly deed.” The Pine Bluff Daily Graphic opined that “Andy is a smooth duck and if he is captured he will beyond any doubt stretch hemp.”

Newspapers again maintained that he stayed in the area, with one report stating that he was seen dressed in women’s clothing, but his location remained a mystery until Deputy Sheriff W. A. Clay intercepted letters mailed to Johnson’s wife and daughters from the Reverend J. W. Jones in Waco, Texas. Clay asked a Texas marshal to watch the post office, and “Jones” was arrested when he went to pick up his mail. The deputy brought him back to Pine Bluff on June 25, 1894, to stand trial.

Johnson, who claimed he was in Texas when Howard Johnson was killed, represented himself at his preliminary hearing, and a Pine Bluff paper wrote that “he is bold and defiant in his manner, such being his history.” A grand jury indicted both Johnson and wife-murderer William Owens on first-degree murder charges on September 19, 1894.

Johnson was granted a change of venue to Desha County, where prosecutors “proved by the strongest testimony that Johnson was in Pine Bluff on the night of the assassination, and from start to finish it was evident that the assassin would be convicted.” The ten white and two Black jurors found him guilty after deliberating only forty minutes in February 1895, and Johnson was sentenced to hang on April 26, 1895, “just one year from the day on which he sent Howard Johnson’s soul into eternity.” He was returned to the Jefferson County jail “for safe keeping.”

Governor James P. Clarke granted a forty-day delay for Johnson’s execution. A Pine Bluff reporter visited him in jail and wrote that “he must suffer for his crime and this realization has completely unnerved him, and he now presents a truly pitiable sight.” Though “a strong effort has been made to secure executive clemency,” and the governor granted another delay in the hanging, Clarke declined to commute Johnson’s sentence and set June 21, 1895, for the execution.

When Johnson was taken from the Pine Bluff jail on the morning of June 21, “at least a thousand people, most of them negro women, had assembled there to take a last look at the condemned man.” The crowd tripled by the time he arrived at the depot for the train ride to Dumas.

The Pine Bluff Daily Graphic wrote that, on the gallows, “he was brave to the last, and in his farewell address upon the scaffold he admonished all to profit by his end.” The Gazette reported that “he stated that he knew he was going straight to Heaven and God have mercy on his soul.” The sheriff triggered the trap door at 1:47 p.m., “and the soul of Anthony Johnson went to meet his maker.” His body was taken down after eleven minutes and sent for burial in Pine Bluff.

For additional information:
“Andy Dies Game.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, June 21, 1895, p. 1.

“Andy Johnson.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, April 30, 1894, p. 1.

“Andy Johnson.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, June 28, 1894, p. 1.

“Andy Johnson Hangs Today.” Arkansas Gazette, June 5, 1895, p. 1.

“Andy Johnson Still Lives.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, June 5, 1895, p. 1.

“Attempted Murder.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, January 24, 1894, p. 1.

“A Bad Negro.” Arkansas Gazette, April 27, 1894, p. 2.

“Died Game.” Arkansas Gazette, June 22, 1895, p. 1.

“Drawing to a Close.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, June 3, 1895, p. 1.

“He Carries a Winchester.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, May 1, 1894, p. 1.

“He Will Swing.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, February 13, 1895, p. 1.

“Johnson in Jail.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, February 17, 1895, p. 1.

“Must Suffer the Penalty.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, June 7, 1895, p. 1.

“Not Long to Live.” Arkansas Gazette, June 9, 1895, p. 1.

“Notorious Andy Johnson.” Arkansas Gazette, January 31, 1894, p. 2.

“On Track of Andy Johnson.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, May 14, 1894, p. 4.

“Pine Bluff News.” Arkansas Gazette, April 21, 1895, p. 16.

“Pine Bluff News.” Arkansas Gazette, February 17, 1895, p. 4.

“Rev. Andy Johnson.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, June 25, 1894, p. 4.

“Shot and Killed.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, April 27, 1894, p. 1.

Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, February 15, 1895, p. 4, col. 1.

Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, October 8, 1894, p. 1, col. 1.

Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, September 20, 1894, p. 4, col. 2.

Mark K. Christ
Central Arkansas Library System