Julius Morgan
{{good article}}
{{Short description|Executed by electric chair in Tennessee}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Julius Morgan
| image = File:Julius Morgan.jpg
| caption = Julius Morgan (photo credit) Nashville Banner, July 13, 1916
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{circa|1894}}
| birth_place = Arkansas, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1916|07|13|1894}}
| death_place = Tennessee State Prison, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
| known_for = First person executed by electric chair in Tennessee
| death_cause = Execution by electrocution
| conviction = Rape
| criminal_status = Executed
| criminal_penalty = Death
}}
Julius Morgan ({{circa|1894}} – July 13, 1916) was an American criminal who was the first prisoner executed by the electric chair in Tennessee, after being convicted for the rape of a twenty-year-old woman. He claimed to have served one year in an Arkansas prison for assault before escaping to Tennessee. Morgan unsuccessfully sought clemency from the Tennessee Supreme Court and Governor Thomas Clarke Rye before admitting his guilt at his execution.
Background
Julius Morgan claimed to be twenty-two years old in 1916, and came to Tennessee from Arkansas. Morgan stated that he had been convicted for the assault of a woman in Arkansas in 1913, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison. He escaped from prison one year into his sentence, but was recaptured before escaping again and moving to Tennessee.
Morgan was working with his brother in law and uncle at a farm in Dyer County. Morgan was accused of criminally assaulting Laura Sullivan on February 1, 1916, near Dyersburg, Tennessee. The crime occurred when the woman, described in news reports as a "20 year-old white girl" who was selling "toilet articles", came to a house where Morgan was working. Morgan pursued the woman and assaulted her in the street. He was captured about twelve hours later in Maury City. The sheriff of Dyer County moved Morgan to Jackson to protect him from a mob of vigilantes who planned to lynch him.
Trial and petitions for clemency
File:Julius Morgan electric chair.png
Morgan appeared in court with three lawyers and was granted a change of venue to Memphis. On March 27, 1916, Morgan was being held in the Memphis, Tennessee jail, The Shelby County sheriff, one Reichman, ordered guards to protect Morgan from lynch mobs. He was convicted of the crime of rape on April 3, and a motion for a new trial was denied.
The Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation on September 27, 1913, making the electric chair the official method of execution in the state and required all executions to be held in Nashville. The legislation was signed into law by Governor Ben W. Hooper.
By June 1916 the Tennessee Supreme Court had affirmed the decision to execute Morgan. After the Supreme Court refused to overturn the death penalty, Morgan attempted to gain clemency from the governor. These attempts culminated in a visit by Governor Thomas Clarke Rye on July 10, 1916. Morgan talked to Rye about his crime, but Rye made no promise to grant clemency. Several people had asked the Governor to grant clemency including the Nashville "Colored Men's Branch" of the YMCA, but the Governor did not grant clemency.
Execution
Morgan was singing songs with religious leaders before being moved to the penitentiary to await execution. At 5:00 pm on July 12, 1916, he was led to an automobile for transport while hundreds of people gathered to see him transported.
On July 13, 1916, Morgan had a last meal of watermelon at the penitentiary. Morgan's head was then shaved and he was strapped into the electric chair at 4:38 am. At 4:41 am a guard flipped the switch and sent the electricity to the chair. The first jolt of electricity did not kill Morgan and the electricity was sent to the chair a second time. Morgan was pronounced dead by a doctor at 4:45 am.
Morgan admitted to his guilt before his execution. "I was good once. Then I went to drinking bootleg whiskey and when the showdown come-it got me."{{#tag:ref|He gave a statement to the YMCA prior to his death: "I got in the habit of taking a drink of whisky in the morning when it was cold and frosty, and the habit grew upon me. The next thing to whiskey, that led to my ruin, was bad women. I would advise young men to stay away from the red light district. Bad women, like bad whisky, will lead young men and old men alike to destruction... My father was a sinner and a gambler. He was shot down without a moment's notice. He is today in hell when every body ought to pray to shun. Boys who are invited to church ought to take heed."|group=N}}
His body was delivered to his mother in Arkansas. Since his execution there have been one hundred-thirty prisoners put to death using the electric chair in Tennessee.
See also
Notes
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References
{{reflist|refs=
{{Cite news |date=February 20, 2020 |title=Tennessee execution: Nicholas Todd Sutton executed by electric chair |work=The Tennessean |url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2020/02/20/nicholas-todd-sutton-execution-tennessee-electric-chair/4806710002/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211231143319/https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2020/02/20/nicholas-todd-sutton-execution-tennessee-electric-chair/4806710002/ |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |access-date=December 31, 2021 }}
{{Cite news |title=Tennessee Executions |work=Tennessee Department of Correction |url=https://www.tn.gov/correction/statistics/executions/tennessee-executions.html |access-date=October 25, 2023 }}
{{Cite news |date=February 3, 1916 |title=Posse After Assailant of Young Girl |page=1 |work=The Tennessean |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91522849/the-tennessean/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211231133829/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91522849/the-tennessean/ |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=December 31, 2021 }}
{{cite news |title=Opinions of the Supreme Court |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90877905/morgan-execution-supreme-court/ |access-date=December 20, 2021 |work=Nashville Banner |date=June 5, 1916 |archive-date=December 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211220184856/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90877905/morgan-execution-supreme-court/ |url-status=live }}
{{Cite news |date=July 7, 2016 |title=The Chair: 100 Years After Its First Use, Tennessee's Electric Chair Remains the State's Most Prolific Killer |work=Nashville Scene |url=https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/the-chair-100-years-after-its-first-use-tennessees-electric-chair-remains-the-states-most/article_d8d142f8-5cdb-5fdd-ab6e-6e237399aaf2.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211231132711/https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/the-chair-100-years-after-its-first-use-tennessees-electric-chair-remains-the-states-most/article_d8d142f8-5cdb-5fdd-ab6e-6e237399aaf2.html |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |access-date=December 31, 2021 }}
{{Cite news |date=April 3, 1916 |title=Brought Here To Electric Chair |page=9 |work=Nashville Banner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523307/nashville-banner/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211231135104/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523307/nashville-banner/ |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=December 31, 2021 }} He was sentenced to death by Judge Thomas Walker Harsh, which was the judge's first capital case. He asked the sheriff to make Morgan's remaining time "as pleasant as possible and to give the negro everything he wanted."
{{Cite news |date=March 29, 1916 |title=Guard Around Memphis Jail |page=6 |work=The Leaf-Chronicle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523224/the-leaf-chronicle/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211231134846/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523224/the-leaf-chronicle/ |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=December 31, 2021 }}
{{Cite news |date=July 10, 1916 |title=Governor Visits Condemned Negro |page=1 |work=Nashville Banner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523521/nashville-banner/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211231135734/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523521/nashville-banner/ |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=December 31, 2021 }}
{{Cite news |date=July 13, 1916 |title=Pays With His Life for Crime Committed in Dyer County. No Fear of Death. |page=9 |work=Nashville Banner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12512494/the-tennessean/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211231140347/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12512494/the-tennessean/ |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=December 20, 2021 }}
{{Cite news |date=July 14, 1916 |title=Confesses to Another Crime |page=12 |work=Nashville Banner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523940/the-tennessean/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211231140916/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523940/the-tennessean/ |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=December 31, 2021 }}
{{Cite news |date=February 29, 1916 |title=Negro Secures Change of Venue |page=3 |work=The Chattanooga News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523066/the-chattanooga-news/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211231134358/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523066/the-chattanooga-news/ |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=December 31, 2021 }}
{{Cite news |date=February 11, 1916 |title=Negro Is Trailed |page=3 |work=The Dickson Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91522979/the-dickson-herald/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211231134110/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91522979/the-dickson-herald/ |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=December 31, 2021 }}
{{Cite news |date=June 4, 1916 |title=Julius Morgan's Electrocution Set For July 13 |page=14 |work=The Tennessean |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523398/the-tennessean/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211231135349/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91523398/the-tennessean/ |archive-date=December 31, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=December 31, 2021 }}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Julius}}
Category:1916 crimes in the United States
Category:20th-century executions by Tennessee
Category:20th-century executions of American people
Category:American people convicted of assault
Category:American people executed for rape
Category:Executed African-American people
Category:Executed people from Arkansas