An Evil Day in Georgia: The Killing of Coleman Osborn and the Death Penalty in the Progressive-Era South

On the night of August 5, 1927, someone shot and killed Coleman Osborn, a store owner in Chatsworth, Georgia, in his place of business. Police and neighbors found only circumstantial traces of the murderer: tire tracks, boot prints, shell casings, and five dollars in cash near Osborn’s body. That day, three individuals—James Hugh Moss, a black family man locally renowned for his baseball skills; Clifford Thompson, Moss’s white friend who grew up in the Smoky Mountains; and Eula Mae Thompson...