On Friday June 12 at 9:00 am CDT, the Minnesota Board of Pardons will hear the application for a posthumous pardon of Max Mason, brought by the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Committee and the Minneapolis law firm of Blackwell Burke P.A. No posthumous pardon has previously been granted in Minnesota.
What: Posthumous Pardon Hearing Livestream
Where: The Board of Pardons hearing will be open to the public via live streaming on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MNDOC/live/
When: Friday, June 12, 2019, 9:00am
Why: Monday, June 15, will mark the 100th anniversary of the public lynching of three African- American circus workers inDuluth,Minnesota. In addition to the three men lynched by the mob— Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie—other circus workers had been arrested and charged with rape, all based on bogus allegations from a young woman and her boyfriend who had stayed out too late. One of these men, Max Mason, was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was paroled in less than five years, however, on the condition that he leave Minnesota and never return. There has been a remarkable support for the granting of the pardon, as evidenced by letters of support from nearly every living past member of the Pardon Board – Democrats and Republicans alike—as well as all the federal judges, the current County Prosecutor, the Minnesota State Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Mayor of Duluth, the Chief Public Defender, and others.
(This gruesome event, attended by an estimated 10,000 people (20% of Duluth’s 1920 population) was captured in a chilling photograph later made into a souvenir postcard)
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