Chap 5 KKK in Austin -1882 Lynching of Uncle Sam

 'Mob Law' was common 'justice' in Central Texas, roughly 150 years ago.
          Emmett's Great Great Uncle Sam Shelton was a wild cowboy in Belton in 1880s. He was arrested one night for attempted murder of a deputy and his teen son was jailed with him. 
         A Mob took Uncle Sam from the Belton Jail with a Black Man, Mr. Keys. They were hung on an oak on the Hilltop. Sam's teen brother, Terrell, was spared and witnessed the hanging.
          Sam's brother and Civil War hero (James K. Polk Shelton), revenged the killers. He was tried and acquitted. However, he soon disappeared. His wife, Grandma was left to raise 4 kids alone in the 1880s. She supported the family as a schoolteacher in a number of one-room schools in central Texas.
           With this family history, Emmett's father raised his sons to fight the hard battle all his life - to fight for the common man against injustice, including Lynch Mobs and the KKK.

Music: The Hills that I call Home by Southern Rail

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Stories told by Emmett Shelton / compiled and submitted by Cynthia Shelton.