Will Millin

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William Millin, sometimes "Miller" (died August 5, 1908 in Brighton) was a coal miner, a union organizer described as a "militant", and a lynching victim.

Throughout the Summer of 1908, the Birmingham District was affected by a widespread labor strike called by members of the United Mine Workers District 20 against the mine owners organized under the banner of the Alabama Coal Operators Association. The strike had been characterized by numerous outbreaks of violence. Among the forces arrayed against union organization were local law enforcement, private security guards, hastily sworn-in "special deputies", professional strikebreakers, militia companies activated by the Governor, and about 60 "Texas Sharpshooters" brought to the district from Western states by train.

Millin was involved in organizing Woodward Iron Company miners and coke workers in Dolomite to support the strike.

On the night of Sunday August 2 a 3-room cabin in the Parker Springs area of Brighton was damaged by one or more sticks of dynamite placed or thrown onto the back porch. The occupant, Findlay Fuller was a non-union Black miner who was working at Dolomite during the strike. He was at home with his wife and three children at the time of the bombing. They were uninjured by the blast. The crime was investigated by Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy George Jones, who had bloodhounds brought to track the perpetrator from the house. The dogs lost the track at a trail marked by rubber-tire prints. One of the dogs, belonging to Deputy Jesse Howell, somehow picked up the scent again and led the deputies to Millin's cabin, where he and his wife were still up and dressed at 1 AM.

Millin, who claimed to have been at home since Noon, was not immediately arrested, but the next morning, investigators heard a witness who claimed to have overheard him remark to his wife just before the blast that, "It's a mighty long time going off." Another witness, George Taylor, claimed that Millin had threatened to kill him if he kept working during the strike.

On that evidence, and the bloodhound owner Howell's signature on the warrant, Millin was jailed at around 10 PM on Tuesday, August 4, and was scheduled to be transported to the Jefferson County jail the next day. Between 2 and 5 the next morning he was removed from the Brighton City Jail, had his hands and feet bound by insulated copper wire, and brought to a wooded area just outside of town, within 100 yards of the dirt road to Woodward Furnaces. He was hanged from a pine tree using the same type of wire. His neck was broken by the noose and his bound feet dangled about a foot above the ground. It was judged that no more than 4 or 5 men could have been responsible for the lynching. A crowd of around 1,000 gathered to gawk at the spectacle, and were held by by a guard.

Jefferson County Coroner W. D. Paris was brought to the city at 9 AM and selected six jurors for an inquest. According to testimony provided by Town Marshal J. H. Toumerlin, there were only two keys to the cell, of which he had one. He had last seen Millin when he brought a bucket of water to the cell at 11 PM. The only other key had been entrusted to Deputy George Love. Love had been asked for the key by Jonesboro marshal and "special deputy" Lon Tyler on the evening of August 4, before most of those guarding the jail (including Jesse Howell) left by train for Dolomite on the rumor of trouble expected there. Tyler and his brother Bruce were arrested and charged with Millin's murder. Sheriff E. L. Higdon stated that "We cannot affort to have such outrages of justice carried on in Jefferson County. Let the coroner sift that matter to the bottom and try to place the crime where it belongs. I do not propose to have such things as lynchings if I can possibly help it." Their bonds were set at $1000 and $500 respectively. The coroner's jury returned a sealed verdict on August 28. Coroner Paris was expected to refer it to a grand jury, which met in October.

Millin's body remained hanging for at least a full day before Coroner Paris ordered him cut down around noon on Thursday and brought to Brighton City Hall for an inquest. By the end of the week, the body was given to Kennedy Bros. undertakers. Meanwhile, the "law-abiding citizens of the Brighton community" (who had previously met to condemn the lawless bombing of Fuller's house) held another "large indignation meeting" and formally adopted a resolution condemning the lynching and "all mob law of any kind," and urging the arrest of those guilty. The white of the meeting became alarmed at a growing number of Black people assembling outside and summoned Sheriff's deputies to disperse them.

In the meantime, military officers in the district arrested Fuller on suspicion of having bombed his own house and turned him over to the Sheriff's department. Toumerlin was also arrested for striking a woman who had tried to prevent him for arresting one of her children on a misdemeanor charge. The woman's husband had sworn out the warrant.

By the end of the month, Governor B. B. Comer had ordered the state guard to break up the tent cities occupied by strikers and mine operators celebrated a victory over the unions.

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