The Eutawville Lynching Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A AABB CCDD E FF GGHH IIJJ K AAJJ LLMM NNOO PPMM OOAA QQRR SSTT UUV WWXY ZZA2A2| July | A |
| - | |
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| In the State of 'Old Palmetto ' from the town of Eutawville | A |
| Comes a voice of pain and anguish that refuses to be still | A |
| 'Tis a voice that cries for vengeance for the wrongs it has received | B |
| Yea it asks a nation's conscience When will justice be achieved | B |
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| 'Twas a Negro and four white men that a fishing party made | C |
| In this party all the basis of a tragedy was laid | C |
| One of them began a quarrel with the Negro of the crowd | D |
| Told him not to think of justice for to him 'twas disallowed | D |
| - | |
| Then they all began to curse him in a shameful way to see | E |
| Till the Negro said 'I'll spank you if you do not let me be ' | - |
| For this threat he was arrested and for trial was arraigned | F |
| And it goes without the saying it was by the white man gained | F |
| - | |
| So Kitt Bookard there was sentenced for that was the Negro's name | G |
| To a fine of just five dollars and condemned with all the blame | G |
| When the fine he could not furnish in the guard house he was placed | H |
| There in safety for the lynchers who that night the town disgraced | H |
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| With the constable to help them and the marshall of the town | I |
| Went the wicked fishing party to the guard house with a frown | I |
| They procured a bar of iron gagged and tied Kitt Bookard fast | J |
| And they took him in a buggy to the river for the last | J |
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| 'Say your prayers ' the lynchers told him 'for to Jordan you have come | K |
| Be in haste for hour of midnight brings you to your final home ' | - |
| 'If you'll spare me ' said Kitt Bookard 'I will be your slave for life ' | - |
| 'Speak no more ' the mob retorted 'with your blood will end the strife ' | - |
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| He was clubbed and mutilated then the fiends put out his eye | A |
| Any mob of heathen darkness would such shameful deeds decry | A |
| Then with weights about his body in the river he was cast | J |
| Where his blood cried out for vengeance till a week and more had passed | J |
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| Bookard's family was anxious to procure him his release | L |
| Through the night his wife was restless and from worry could not cease | L |
| At the dawn his brother hastened 'I will pay the fine ' he said | M |
| But he found the guard house empty and as quiet as the dead | M |
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| Quick a search was instituted all the Negroes round about | N |
| Volunteered into the service bound to clear the place of doubt | N |
| In the night a rain had fallen and no stirring round was done | O |
| Save a buggy track was leading from the guard house only one | O |
| - | |
| Hurriedly the track was followed to the Santee River's brink | P |
| And a dredging was decided when the Negroes came to think | P |
| On the ninth day thus they found him in the silent river's bed | M |
| Weighted with a bar of iron mutilated bruised and dead | M |
| - | |
| When the coroner was summoned and an inquest was begun | O |
| 'Twas revealed in all its horrors how the deed of shame was done | O |
| 'Twas a tale of barbarism that the press refused to tell | A |
| How the mob with hellish fury did the work of demons well | A |
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| In the mob was found a witness when the fiends were brought to court | Q |
| Who exposed the shocking lynching in a clear and full report | Q |
| All the details of the quarrel and the fine Kitt was to pay | R |
| Of his death in Santee River long before the dawn of day | R |
| - | |
| Then the jury left the court room just for fourteen minutes' time | S |
| And returned to bring the verdict that would free the sons of crime | S |
| 'We pronounce the men not guilty ' said the foreman of the crew | T |
| When the facts are given credance this was thunder from the blue | T |
| - | |
| Now that mob unwhipped of justice poses as the country's best | U |
| Why it only killed a Negro let such matters have a rest | U |
| Hark we hear in half the country 'Keep the Negro in his place | V |
| Violence we measure to him as a warning to his race ' | - |
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| To this day the blood of Bookard cries for vengeance loud and long | W |
| And the wailing reaches heaven fills the ear that hates the wrong | W |
| So the same can never triumph punishment for sin is sure | X |
| 'Tis God's world and not the devil's wrong enthroned is insecure | Y |
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| While we feel that God is living we our patience strive to keep | Z |
| Still the question comes with power O how long will justice sleep | Z |
| Those who die the death of Bookard some sweet day revenge will find | A2 |
| Nature's God reveals the secret wrong is punished by its kind | A2 |
Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer
(1)
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