
Elizabeth Cotten

The true story of Willie & Johnson
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Newspaper accounts of Will Allen’s death tell a limited story and often sensationalized the death, emphasizing race.
Raleigh Morning Times, September 5, 1905
Chatham Record (Pittsboro, NC) Sept. 7, 1905
Wilmington’s Weekly Star was the white newspaper founded and edited by a white supremacist and confederate and played a large role in spreading propaganda, especially apparent in the coverage of the Wilmington Massacre in 1898 less than a decade prior. Read more about the Wilmington Massacre.
View this short article in context to see what other kinds of news stories the paper reported.
The Weekly Star (Wilmington) on Sept 8, 1905.
A few newspapers reported that Johnson Merritt was not charged for Will Allen’s death in a short notice like this one in the Statesville Record and Landmark:
Statesville Record and Landmark, Sept.8, 1905