Item #6482 Eddie Broom Before the Execution. E M. B.
Eddie Broom Before the Execution.

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E.M.B.

Eddie Broom Before the Execution.

Kissimmee, Florida: Hall & Paynter GEM Studio, 5 Feb. 1912. Real photo postcard, 3.5” x 5.5”. Captioned in the negative, with note in ink on verso.

Eddie Broome, an African-American man who also went by the name ‘Jim Rose,’ was executed on 19 Jan. 1912 in Kissimmee, Florida after being tried for murder, found guilty, and sentenced to hanging. Broome was convicted of shooting and killing one Samuel Boatwright, a white man, in late 1910 in what Broome said was self-defense (Boatwright allegedly attacked him with a knife). Broome’s attorneys were ultimately unable to locate the two witnesses who could have testified for him. This image shows a dozen men huddled around the condemned man, who is dressed in a suit and bow tie. One man with his arm extended rests his hand on Broome's left shoulder. The gallows appears in the background.

A note by an individual who witnessed the hanging appears on the verso. Addressed to one W. W. Washburn of China, Maine, it reads in full:

Here is something which I hope we never may have in Maine. The scaffold was in the corner of Court House yard, opposite our house. I saw it all, because I wanted the strange experience, but care not to see another. This was first legal hanging in our Co. The negro shot a man in back—Quarrel over card game. Awful wicked fellow. On scaffold made a long speech—Said he was glad to have such an opportunity & such an audience. Then he prayed. Told us to meet him in Heaven & said his peace was made with God. But the sheriff said to me that he knew he had not repented. In this picture the clergyman with hat in hand is praying. The negro was not ‘game’ to end. [signed] E.M.B.

The Osceola Journal offered another account of Broome’s final moments, noting that Broome told the crowd his parents had raised him better but he had "fallen into evil ways and had led a wicked and reckless life.” According to this account, he also cautioned against playing cards and engaging in other vices, and advocated reading the Bible. The Orlando Reporter-Star also reported that, after praying, Broome asked all those who would meet him in heaven to raise their hands. "Eight men raised their hands," the newspaper quoted Orange County Deputy Frank Gordon. "Then Sheriff Prevatt advanced with the rope. When the noose fell over [Broome's] neck, he fainted. He came to, and began to yell, and the noise he made beat anything you ever heard. It excited the prisoners in the jail, who began to yell. … It was a great time."

REFERENCES: Robison, Jim. “County Saw its Share of Executions.” Orlando Sentinel (8 Feb. 1998) at orlandosentinel.com

CONDITION: Light curling to bottom of photo; light wear to verso.

Item #6482

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