Hangman's Oak

Chapter One

Some say Hangman's Oak is the oldest in the region. Not sure that's true, but it is the most infamous. Its last legal hanging was in 1876. After that, public hangings were held behind what is now a museum. Of course, we don't execute people in public anymore. We don't hang them, either.

Legal hangings didn't make Hangman's Oak infamous. Lynching did. Some whites, three women, an Indian, mostly blacks. The last lynched, Oct. 1, 1947, was Paul Jasper Monroe, a decorated war veteran known socially as PJ.

PJ was what was called 'high yellow,' with regular features and curly—not kinky—black hair. He never denied his heritage but was often taken for white. As if that means a goddamned thing. I guess it did back then. Although popular with ladies of every color, PJ was never accused of being unseemly or rude. That's because PJ was gay. Another trait he never denied. Which shouldn't have meant a goddamned thing, either. But, of course, it did.

Popular, black and being gay were probably why some upstanding citizens of the day made an example of him. Or was it because, as a WWII vet, he expected respect and refused to kowtow to Jim Crow attitudes? Hard to say. Could it happen today? Attitudes have changed a lot since PJ was lynched. Blacks have equal rights. Gays serve openly in the military. The Supreme Court declared gays have the right to marry, to be treated equally. Not that everyone agrees. Prejudice is persistent. Hard to kill. Someone always wants to keep others down. Could it happen again? I don't know.

What I do know is that no one was ever arrested for PJ's death despite rumors as to who did it. Does that explain why four days ago, 68 years later to the day, George Armstrong Cutter, white male, 89, was found hanging from Hangman's Oak?

"Rachel, there's nothing here to see."

I turned to Andy Walther, friend and reporter for the Daily Record.

"I know. This is a popular park, yet I've never been here. I needed to see it."

"It's a police matter. What's your interest?"

"Do you know PJs Johnson?"

"Your friend that takes in lost and runaway kids?"

"That's her. I always thought people called her PJs because she wears nothing but pajamas. Turns out she's been PJs her whole life. She was born on her uncle's birthday and named for him. That uncle, Paul Jasper Monroe, was lynched here in 1947. PJs was eight when it happened. Rumors said George Cutter was one of the killers. The Cutter name being what it is, he was never questioned much less arrested. The police are questioning her family about killing Cutter for revenge."

"Six decades later? Doesn't make sense."

"Closer to seven and I agree. But tell that to Det. Sgt. Martin Standish. PJs hired me to find the why and who. She believes the police are wearing blinders. No one with the investigation will talk to me because of Standish. You know anything that wasn't made public?"

"Supposedly a photo was attached to the body with 'P.J.-R.I.P.' written on it."

"Supposedly?"

"I haven't seen it, and my source said, 'maybe there was.'"

"Did your source maybe tell you what was in the photo?"

"Supposedly the lynching and the six men who hanged Monroe."

"Anything else?"

"Cutter's pick-up truck is missing. Presumably, it was used in the hanging. You can see tire tracks beneath the tree. The pattern matches tires for that make and model."