John Maxey (Execution of)

John Maxey was a Black man hanged at Van Buren (Crawford County) on August 4, 1899, on a rape charge. He went to the gallows proclaiming his innocence.

On March 17, 1899, Hulda Meier, “an old German lady, nearly seventy years of age,” claimed that John Maxey had raped her. He was arrested, and a special term of the Crawford County Circuit Court was convened in April because local people were “very much aroused and incensed…and many wanted to do the criminal speedy justice” but held off from lynching him when the court session was announced.

The grand jury indicted Maxey on a charge of criminal assault on April 3, 1899, and his trial began two days later. The Arkansas Democrat reported that “witnesses were brought in…to prove the old woman’s bad character; negro witnesses were brought in to prove that they saw Maxey at or about the time the act was to have been committed.” However, thirteen-year-old Tommie Downs testified that Maxey gave him fifteen cents to take Meier up a mountain near Van Buren “under the pretense that he would get her a place to stay for the night,” and several witnesses said they saw Downs with the woman.

The jury returned a guilty verdict on April 9, and the next day Maxey was sentenced to hang on May 19. The Arkansas Supreme Court granted him a respite on May 13 so that it could consider an appeal in the case but confirmed the verdict on June 10. Governor Daniel Webster Jones set a new execution date of August 4, 1899.

The Arkansas Gazette reported that there was “no spontaneous movement on the part of the people in Crawford [C]ounty in behalf of extending clemency to Maxey, though several parties have urged the governor to commute the sentence to life imprisonment.” These included a member of the grand jury who wrote to Gov. Jones that “it was conclusively proven” during the trial that Meier “has a mania for charging people with rape” and that she had accused a white man of raping her sometime after Maxey’s trial. Jones refused to intervene, writing that Maxey “has always been a vicious, worthless negro” and if he “had a previous good character it would have gone a long way in supporting the claim made by his attorneys.”

The Van Buren Press reported that “Rev. Phillips was [Maxey’s] spiritual advisor and he appeared to find much comfort in his words.” Maxey was brought to the gallows erected behind the Crawford County Courthouse early in the morning on August 4, 1899, and after a prayer by Phillips, “he joined in the song ‘Every Day and Hour.’” The Democrat wrote that Maxey “maintained his innocence to the last and in a speech on the gallows invoked a curse on the people of Van Buren.”

The Press quoted Maxey as saying, “Gentlemen, you have put an innocent man to death…but God will [mete] out to you in that day justice to every man, and every man will know on that day that John Maxey is innocent….I expect to meet you in that land where we meet to part no more….Fear no evil, fear no death,” while the Democrat reported him saying, “Remember, Van Buren. Show these people that they have murdered an innocent man. I am going to Glory, where we meet to part no more.”

Maxey “never flinched while he was being tied…saying he was going to Jesus.” The trap door was opened at 8:52 a.m. and he was declared dead at 9:05, his neck broken.

For additional information:
Arkansas Democrat, August 7, 1899, p. 3, col. 1.

Arkansas Democrat, June 10, 1899, p. 2, col. 1.

“Curse on His Lips.” Arkansas Democrat, August 4, 1899, p. 1.

“Doesn’t Hang Today.” Arkansas Democrat, May 19, 1899, p. 4.

“John Maxey Guilty.” Arkansas Democrat, April 10, 1899, p. 4.

“No Hope for Him.” Arkansas Gazette, July 28, 1899, p. 2.

“Paid the Penalty.” Van Buren Press, August 5, 1899, p. 3.

“Scaffold Erected.” Arkansas Democrat, July 31, 1899, p. 7.

“Sentenced to Hang.” Arkansas Gazette, April 11, 1899, p. 5.

“Special Term Held.” Arkansas Democrat, April 3, 1899, p. 2.

“To Hang August 4.” Arkansas Democrat, June 29, 1899, p. 8.

“Was Sentenced to Death.” Arkansas Democrat, April 12, 1899, p. 6.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas