Maurice Throckmorton

Maurice B. Throckmorton (born October 22, 1855 in Louisville, Kentucky; died December 8, 1888 in Birmingham) was the Postmaster of Birmingham in the late 1880s. He was married to the former Florence Earle Martin, daughter of Alburto Martin about 1884 and named his son, Alburto Throckmorton, born in 1885, for his father-in-law.

Throckmorton came to Birmingham in 1880 as an agent of the Southern Express Company. He and Florence married c. 1882. He then became a ticket agent for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. In 1887, approximately 18 months before his death, he became postmaster.

Throckmorton was killed by Jefferson County Sheriff Deputies at the order of Sheriff Joseph S. Smith during a riot connected to the Hawes murders. A mob had gathered to lynch Richard Hawes, and Throckmorton was reportedly pleading with the crowd to disperse when Sheriff Smith gave the order to his deputies to fire their shotguns to protect the county jail [1]. Smith was arrested for Throckmorton's death but was ultimately found not guilty of murder.

Throckmorton was a captain in the Birmingham Artillery and a member of the Birmingham Protective Order of the Elks. His funeral was held at Cathedral Church of the Advent and he is interred at Oak Hill Cemetery.

References

• "Maurice B. Throckmorton's Funeral." (December 12, 1888). The Weekly Herald, p. 1. Accessed via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections on October 28, 2011.
• "The Dead." (December 12, 1888). The Weekly Herald, p. 2. Accessed via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections on October 28, 2011.

External links

• Maurice Throckmorton's gravesite at Oak Hill Cemetery, accessed October 3, 2007.
• Jefferson County Sheriff's Office History accessed October 3, 2007.
• The Anderson Sheriffs of Jefferson County Alabama accessed October 3, 2007.