In December of 1849, it was reported that an enslaved man by the name of Alph had been lynched for the murder of his owner, James Crawford. Alph was captured on the 15th of October and hung, without a trial, on the 20th, in Bentonville, Arkansas. The citizens alleged that Alph had “crushed Anderson’s skull and slit his throat, leaving him on the side of the road” (Jones 27). Alph...