Will James aka "Froggie"
November 11, 1909

A fully detailed photo account is depicted in a series of postcards...a portrait... the charred remains of is head on a stick law enforcement agents with bloodhounds... postcards of scenic street views and a montage of incidents of the actual lynching all frame Will James portrait. The photo postcards are from a series of fifteen which included the home of the victim. Will James led local authorities on a manhunt for the murder of a woman. A mob of vigilantes and hound dogs captured James in Belknap and returned him to Cairo for a public execution. He was hung and his body was "riddled with bullets" then dragged for a mile to the scene of the crime where he was burned in the presence of an estimated ten-thousand people. The New York Times stated, "women were in the crowd and some helped to hang the negro and to drag the body." The body was prominently hung in one of the town's well lit landmarks, "Hustler's Arch" This site was usually where the town celebrated events such as the Fourth of July, and circus parades. Will James was beaten, hung, dropped and maliciously set afire. His remains were reduced to ashes. After the lynching the mob lynched Henry Salizar on the same evening. He was lynched for murdering his wife. He was simply hanged. After the hanging the second body was not mutilated , dragged or set afire.