#52Ancestors #Week30 - In the News

 My great-great-great grandmother was in the news, only once that I can tell.  She or someone in the family reported that she had been assaulted and the newspaper printed the details. I don't wish to speculate about what may have happened to my ancestor, but there are undoubtedly embellishments included in the colorful newspaper report. There doesn't ever appear to have been a follow up apprehension of the correct "fiend", at least not one that rated mention in the paper, and I hope that no one met with the likely punishment of the time. I have misplaced the year that this took place but based on her age, this was in about 1885.

Assaulted by a Negro

Mrs. Pearson, an aged woman, Cruelly Outraged by the Fiend

Cairo, ILL, Feb 3 - Special Telegram - 

News reached this city this morning of a Horrible outrage perpetrated near America [Illinois], just above Mound City, a few days ago. Mrs. Nancy Pearson, a highly respected White woman about 60 years old, was assaulted by an unknown negro and cruelly outraged and Abused. Grave fears are entertained of her Recovery. The whole country is aroused over the occurance, and an active search is being made for the perpetrator. The only clue so far obtained is that after assaulting Mrs. Pearson, the fiend robbed her of all the money he could find, $1.90. One of the coins was a fifty-cent piece that had been worn very smooth and had a nick in one side. This she described and is was found to have been passed at Huckleberry's stationery store for a purchase made by a negro, whom Huckleberry said he would know again if he saw him. Several suspects have been arrested, but so far the right one has not been found.

Nancy Pearson was a fairly recent widow, and $1.90 was a great deal of money in 1885, worth between $60-65 today. If she was greviously injured, she did well and lived another 20 years. However, both Cairo and Mound City were both "sundown towns" and Cairo was the site of several documented lynchings, including that of one white man. This was no idle accusation. Given the culture of racism in Little Egypt, I'm grateful that - this time - this didn't become a larger news story, not missing that accusations (or their published embellishments), large and small, damaged countless lives.