Swift Justice: The Southern Way (2 page)

Around the corner, Lucky Bennett appeared with a shotgun pointed at Leon, and Leon could see Tom Jenkins to Leon’s right. Tom Jenkins was another one of Lucky’s foremen.

“Whoa, whoa, Mr. Bennett what’s going on here,” pleaded Leon. “What’s with the gun?”

“I understand you causing problems around here, boy,” said Lucky.

Leon thought about running, but they trapped him into the small area as a car blocked the way. He decided to scream for help. Maybe one of his fellow black workers would come to his aide. He yelled, “Fletcher, help!”

Fletcher was one of his co-workers.

At that moment, John Favors struck Leon with a club before Leon could yell again. The men quickly put Leon in the car’s trunk and sped away. They drove a couple of blocks to an abandoned warehouse facility and drove inside. They pulled Leon out of the trunk, put handcuffs and leg cuffs on him, and tied a rag across his mouth. They waited until it was dark and drove him to their designated spot.

The three men prepared themselves before they opened the trunk. Lucky held the shotgun, Favors lit and held a torch, and Jenkins held a baseball bat with both hands ready to strike.

Inside the trunk, Leon was shaking uncontrollably. He was terrified. He wondered if there was any way he could escape. His head was killing him from the earlier blow, and he was groggy. He felt it was hopeless.

To Leon’s horror, the trunk door opened quickly. Leon saw three men standing with one of them pointing a shotgun in his face.

“Leon, what you doing in the trunk, boy?” asked Lucky. “How did you get in there? You trying to steal a door from the construction site, huh?”

Leon couldn’t say anything because they bound his mouth.

“Tommy, untie that rag from his mouth,” Lucky barked.

Tommy untied the rag.

Leon’s natural reaction was to beg for his life, but he thought better. There was no way that was going to work. He also didn’t want them to say to their buddies afterwards that Leon begged like a girl before they killed him. Instead, he decided to reason with them.

“Mr. Bennett, I don’t understand. Why are you doing this to me? What have I done?”

“Get him out of the trunk,” Lucky ordered his men.

“Come on, Mr. Bennett. I’ve always been a hard worker for you.”

The men grabbed him, pulled him out, and threw him roughly to the ground. They had cuffed Leon’s hands behind him, so he landed awkwardly because he couldn’t brace himself. His face hit the dirt.

“Hee hee hee,” the men laughed.

“Stand up, boy,” yelled Lucky.

“I can’t,” Leon said. Leon was having difficulty breathing because of the massive fear he felt. “Please, don’t do this.” He couldn’t help it. He instinctively started begging. “Come on, what did I do to cause this?”

“Leon, you know,” said Lucky. “You causing a lot of problems with your voting drive. We can’t have that.”

“Hey, no problem, Mr. Bennett, I’ll stop immediately. I’ll tell people not to vote. Please.”

“Well, let’s talk about it,” said Lucky. “Let’s take a walk. Help him up.”

The other men helped him up, and Leon was able to walk with the little slack the leg cuffs allowed. He hobbled forward as the men directed him.

Leon had a sliver of hope as they said they wanted to
talk
to him. Perhaps they weren’t going to kill him. Perhaps they were just going to talk to him.

After about thirty feet, his hopes vanished. He immediately fell to his knees at the awful sight of a noose hanging from a tree. They must have planned this ahead of time. They were going to hang him!

“No, Mr. Bennett. Please, Mr. Bennett don’t do this. I won’t vote. I’ll make sure no one votes.”

“Hee hee hee,” the men laughed again. “Too late, boy,” said John Favors. “We have to send a message.”

Leon realized that his pleading was useless. He again thought about escaping. Now that he was on his feet, maybe he could make a run for it even with the leg cuffs on. It was worth a try. He had nothing to lose. Lucky was behind him with the shotgun and his two thugs were at Leon’s sides. Leon made his move to save his life. He ran. But after a few steps, he stumbled and fell because of the leg cuffs.

Tom Jenkins and John Favors kicked him repeatedly while Leon was on the ground.

“You stupid, nigger,” barked Lucky. “You think you can get away from us. Hold him down on the ground, boys.”

The men held Leon face down on the ground.

Lucky took the lit cigarette from his mouth and pressed it firmly on Leon’s neck.

“Aaah!” Leon screamed.

Lucky repeated his actions on Leon’s bare arm.

“Aaaaahh!” Leon screamed again.

“Now, don’t go try running away again, boy,” Lucky ordered. “It’s only going to make it worse.”

The two men did not let Leon get on his feet. Instead, they dragged him over to the pre-arranged noose. The noose hung over a long thick branch about six feet from the trunk with the other end tied around the trunk. John Favors tried to put Leon’s head in the noose, but Leon fought it.

Lucky took another drag out of his cigarette and pressed it right below Leon’s eye.

Leon screamed again.

John Favors was finally able to get the noose around his neck. Tom Jenkins untied the other end of the rope around the trunk and started pulling on it. John Favors joined Tom to help him yank Leon to his death. They put the torch into a makeshift hole in the tree, and it lit up the area near the tree.

Leon miraculously was able to get to his feet, but the rope was still around his neck. They pulled the rope until he was on his tippy toes, and then they stopped. Lucky remained a few feet back pointing the shotgun at Leon.

Leon could not control his insides and he simultaneously urinated and released his bowels.

The men noticed the pee and started laughing. “Look at Leon,” said Tom Jenkins. “He’s pissed in his pants. Not so tough are you now, boy.”

Leon stared straight ahead in a daze. His life was soon to be over. He was going to spend his last moments saying goodbye to his love ones.

“I love you mama. I love you papa. I love you Joyce—” Leon stopped because he saw a hooded person come from the woods with a shotgun.

Lucky heard him too and turned around.

“Bang!” The person shot Lucky before Lucky turned completely around. Lucky dropped to the ground.

The person immediately pumped the shotgun and shot at Tom and John. “Bang!” Tom Jenkins then dropped to the ground.

John Favors yelled, “Who da fuck are you?” Favors started running.

The person quickly pumped the shotgun again and shot Favors as Favors was running away. Favors fell to the ground and screamed in pain. The person hiked over to where Favors was lying and pump the shotgun again.

“Please, mister, don’t shoot me,” Favors begged. “Who are you?”

The person answered by shooting Favors to his death. The person walked over to the other two victims and shot them both, again.

Leon witnessed this whole scene while the noose was around his neck, and Leon hung on for dear life. When the men were shot, they released the rope, which released the tension, but Leon struggled to keep his balance. Leon didn’t know what to think about the situation. He was prepared to die and now this person shot his enemies. Was he going to let him go? He would soon find out because he couldn’t run away.

The mysterious person was unidentifiable. He or she was fully covered. The person wore overalls with suspenders, boots, long sleeve shirt, gloves, and a hooded mask. The person was of average height and thin.

The person calmly searched and picked up all the shotgun cartridges. The person briefly looked at Lucky and then over at Tom Jenkins. He unclipped Jenkins’s keys from his belt loop and grabbed the keys.

Leon was speechless. He didn’t know what to say. A part of him thought he might survive this nightmare, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up.

The person silently approached Leon and removed the noose from his head. The person went behind Leon and placed Jenkins’s keys into Leon’s bound hands, they were behind his back. Leon could not see the color of the person’s eyes. He also couldn’t tell whether the person was white or black because of the dimly lit area.

The person turned around, turned on a small flashlight, and sprinted into the wood towards the way that Lucky and his crew had entered.

Leon stood there in shock.

Earlier in the Evening

Mama Brooks, a skinny black lady, was in a panic. Her son, Leon was missing. He lived at home and would hardly ever miss dinner at the usual time of six o’clock. He was now about three hours late. Mama Brooks feared that something was wrong.

She, her husband, James, and the rest of the family went searching for Leon. They canvassed the neighborhood asking neighbors if they saw Leon. The neighborhood was on alert and concerned, as they all liked Leon. James called around to people who worked with Leon. Leon’s parents had just purchased their first telephone about six months previous. They were one of the last ones to get a phone.

Finally, James got a hold of Fletcher, Leon’s work buddy. “Fletcher, did you see Leon today?” asked James. “He’s missing.”

“Oh no,” replied Fletcher. “Yes, I did see him at the new general store’s construction site.”

“What happened?”

“Well, towards the end of the day, I saw him carrying a door outside with one of the foremen. Then, I never saw him again. He never came out.”

“Oh, shit,” said James. “This doesn’t sound good. So he didn’t get on the bus with you?”

“No. Damn, I should have waited for him. I should have known something was up. I’m so sorry, Mr. Brooks.”

James sighed. “It’s not your fault, Fletch.” James paused. “They better not hurt my boy.”

Both men knew what had probably occurred. The crackers had taken Leon and were going to harm him. It was a close-knit neighborhood, and all black people stuck together. They all knew to leave the white areas after dark. Negroes didn’t just come up missing and then show up unharmed. If they were missing, it could only mean one thing.

This thought tormented James Brooks. “Fletch, if you see or hear anything, please call me immediately.”

“Of course, I will. I’m going to search the neighborhood.”

“Thank you. Thanks so much, Fletch.”

Mama Brooks stomped into the room and cried, “They must have our boy. They must have him. Oh no, we’ve got to get him.”

James hugged her and cried. “I know. What can we do?”

“I don’t know,” whimpered Mama Brooks.

“I know it’s not going to help, but we should call the police,” suggested James.

“Yeah, like they’re going to do anything.”

“I know, but that’s all I can think of. We’ll let them know, but we’ll keep our search up.”

“Okay, go ahead and call them.”

James dialed the police station.

“Dodge Police,” said Luke Henderson.

“Hello mister. This is James Brooks on Pollard Avenue. My son, Leon is missing.”

“So,” said Officer Henderson. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“I was hoping that maybe you could try to find him. He was working at the new general store’s construction site, and no one has seen him since.”

“Are you kidding? I don’t have time to drive around town looking for your son. It’s not even ten o’clock. He’s probably drunk somewhere.”

James was furious at the policeman’s insult, but James refrained from speaking his mind. “Please, I’m begging you. Leon is never late for dinner. There is something wrong, and he doesn’t even drink.”

“Okay, okay, boy. We’ll send a squad car around to see if we find your boy. What’s your phone number?”

James was somewhat pleased. He gave the officer his contact information. The call ended.

Luke Henderson hung up the phone, rested his feet on the desk, and continued to read the paper.

He did not call anyone to search for Leon.

~~~~

Leon regained his composure and had to think, which was painful because his head throbbed and his sides ached. The mysterious person was gone. Leon was by himself with three dead bodies–
white
dead bodies. His hands and feet were still bound. He breathed heavily and couldn’t believe what occurred. The mysterious person had saved his life, but Leon had to get out of there.

He realized that the keys the mysterious person handed to him must have the key to unlock the cuffs. He couldn’t see them because his hands were bound behind his back, but he could feel the keys. He was careful not to drop the keys. He was eventually able to unlock himself from the handcuffs and then he quickly undid the leg cuffs. He rubbed his wrists and ankles as both hurt because the cuffs were on so tightly.

It was great that he freed himself from the cuffs, but now he had to assess the situation. He had no idea what time it was or where he was at. His pants were soaked with pee and packed with feces. Plus, he was very thirsty and craved water desperately.

He carefully walked over to Lucky and looked at Lucky’s watch. It was five minutes before eleven. He slowly walked over to the car. It was uncomfortable to walk with crap inside his pants. He looked inside the car and grabbed a canteen. He opened it and couldn’t smell anything, so he figured it was water. He immediately chugged about half of it down. There was another one, so he grabbed that one too. He also took a small towel, which he would use to clean himself, and a flashlight.

He needed to clean himself because he could not walk or run with his pants soiled with feces. Using the flashlight to guide him, he walked about thirty yards away to a somewhat small cleared area. He took off his shoes and gently took off his pants. The feces accumulated in his underwear. He slowly took off his underwear and emptied the feces into the ground. He wiped himself with the small towel. He wrapped the underwear inside the towel. He would discard these items later. He didn’t want to leave any evidence that he was at the site.

He hiked back to the dead men. He anxiously wanted to get out of there, but he paused, surveyed the scene, and pondered about what to do. Three dead white men were shot to death. This originally was probably an ordered hit on Leon, and the Klan knew he was supposed to be hung. For some miraculous reason, someone came to Leon’s defense, killed all of the white men, and let Leon free.