Killing of Milo Bentley, Clifford James, Jim McMullen, and Ivy Moss in Alabama in 1932

Incident

Case summary

Clifford James, 46, a farmer and leader in the Sharecroppers Union, was killed in 1932 by a “posse” convened by Sheriff Elder in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. Jeans owed W.S. Parker interest on the farm mortgage and was unable to pay. Parker sought a legal attachment on Jeans’s livestock, and when Sheriff Elder came to execute it, Jeans pleaded with Elder not to take his livestock. Elder left and returned with a posse, which opened fire on Jeans and several other sharecroppers. Jeans and at least three other sharecroppers died of their wounds. Milo Bentley, 45, a sharecropper active in the Sharecroppers Union, was killed in 1932 by a posse led by Sheriffs T. A. Riley and J. Kyle Young in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. It was alleged that Bentley and several other sharecroppers were “communist sympathizers.” They were arrested, allegedly in connection with a gun fight during which four officers were wounded and a Black person killed. Sheriff Riley claimed Bentley had resisted arrest and that “it was necessary to shoot him” – five times. Bentley died as a result of infected wounds and traumatic pneumonia after being denied medical treatment in jail. Jim McMullin, 45, a farmer, was killed in 1932 by Deputy Sheriff Clifford Elder, Chief Deputy Dowdle Ware, and former sheriff J.M. Gantt and J. H “Stool” Alford in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. The officers tried to repossess livestock from Clifford James, who was a leader of the Sharecroppers Union. James refused to surrender the livestock. When Elder returned with a warrant, a group of sharecroppers, including McMullin, had gathered at James’s property. McMullin was shot and killed during a gunfight that ensued between the officers and the group. Ivy Moss, a sharecropper, was killed in 1932. A sharecropper active in the Sharecroppers Union, Moss was arrested by a sheriff’s posse headed by Sheriff T. A. Riley in 1932 in Montgomery, Alabama. Moss was held in Montgomery County jail in connection with a gun fight near Reeltown, Alabama, during which four officers were wounded and a Black person was killed.

Victim(s):

Alleged perpetrators/other named individuals:
Perpetrator group type: police, posse, mob

Date of incident: 1932-12-19
Location: Reeltown, Tallapoosa County, Alabama
Location type: [ ]
Allegation against victim: engaging in union activity (Sharecroppers Union); being aligned with communism; shooting four police officers; owing a debt on a mule

Coroner process
Coroner/inquest: [ ]
Finding of no legal responsibility: [ ]

Criminal process
Arrest: [ ]
Charge/indictment/information: [ ]
Grand jury: [ ]
Trial: [ ]
Conviction: [ ]
Sentence: [ ]


Document(s):
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census records - closed
death certificates
news articles - closed
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