| Summary: | A Series of Florence Herald and Florence Times accounts of the June, 1922 murder of African-American porter of JW Stutts Drug Store Andrew Simpson by Stutts Drugs soda jerk Porter J. Yates.
Saturday, June 24, 1922, eighteen year-old Porter Yates, Sr. (1904-1965), a white soda jerk at JW Stutts Drug Store on Court Street got into an argument with black 26 year-old Stutts Drug Store porter Andrew W. Simpson (1896-1922) over Yates' repeatedly ordering Simpson to "go get more ice cream"; apparently Simpson talked back to Yates, who in a fit of anger grabbed a base-ball bat used in the store for packing ice and struck Simpson over the head with it. Simpson died Monday night, July 3, at Eliza Coffee Hospital.
Yates was arrested, taken to jail, and indicted for murder in September of 1922 by a Lauderdale grand jury. He was found guilty of second degree manslaughter and sentenced to 90 days in the county jail and a $50 fine.
Anthony Hugh "Hugh" Simpson (ca. 1864-1937), a son of Anthony and Lucinda Simpson and Andrew Simpson's father and from ca. 1901 to 1912 a porter for May, Sonnenfield & Co. , appeared as a witness for the state--as was Stutts Drug Store owner JW Stutts. Hugh's wife's name was Mariah or "Mattie" (ca. 1863-aft. 1930). Hugh and Mattie had at least three children, including Andrew, all sons.
The Simpsons lived at various locations. In 1921 Andrew Simpson lived on West College Street. In 1930 the family were living on Gunwaleford Road outside West Florence.
We have no idea where Andrew Simpson is buried, although his father Hugh Simpson's death certificate says he's buried at Rock Hill.
In the introduction to his 2018 book "The Muscle Shoals: First Frontier of These United States" author Alvin Rosenbaum included an account of Andrew Simpson's murder, as remembered by his father, Proof. Stanley Rosenbaum, for many years an English professor at Florence State College, now the University of North Alabama. Prof. Rosenbaum remembered the basic gist of the murder but after so many years simply misremembered the details.
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