Anthony Bewley (May 22, 1804 – September 13, 1860) was an

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

pastor who was lynched in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, Texas for his anti-slavery views. Bewley was born in

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

and became a minister for the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

as a young man. After serving in Virginia and marrying his wife Jane Winton, the Bewleys moved to

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. In 1844, the church split over the issue of slavery, with Bewley rejecting the move of the Missouri church to join the pro-slavery Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1858, the Bewleys and their children moved to Johnson City, Texas, west of Austin. Later the next year, the Bewleys fled when pro-slavery activists disrupted a church conference. The Bewleys returned, however, in spring 1860. That year, as pro-slavery Texans sought out those who might harbor abolitionist sympathies, newspapers published an alleged letter to Bewley where another minister encouraged him to promote abolitionism. Bewley denied that the letter was authentic, but, fearing for his life, he fled for Kansas. Bewley departed under cover of darkness the same day that a mob lynched Unionist William Crawford. A posse chased him, and brought him back to Fort Worth on September 13. 1860. That same evening, a mob descended on the jail, seized him, and hanged him from a nearby tree. Bewley was hanged from a pecan tree near the intersection of White Settlement road and Jacksboro road and left for over a day. Following his lynching, Bewley was placed in a shallow grave where his bones were still visible. As his bones became more exposed, unknown individuals displayed the bones on the roof of a local merchant's warehouse where children would play with them and rearrange the skeleton.

References

1804 births 1860 deaths American anti-abolitionist riots and civil disorder Abolitionists from Tennessee History of Fort Worth, Texas Lynching deaths in Texas People murdered in 1860 19th-century American Methodist ministers Methodists from Tennessee Methodist abolitionists Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church Racially motivated violence in Texas Riots and civil disorder in Texas {{US-Christian-clergy-stub White nationalism in Texas