Body of lynched Black man dropped at foot of monument in 1927

The clash between opponents and supporters of the Confederate memorial on the Historic Courthouse Square in Morganton in 2020 was an ugly scene that — had it not been for the masterful efforts of law enforcement — might well have turned violent.

That wasn’t the darkest moment in the monument’s history, however.

During the early afternoon hours of Sunday, July 3, 1927, a crowd gathered on the square, trying to catch a glimpse of the body of Broadus Miller, a 27-year-old Black man who had been shot to death by bounty hunters after a 12-day manhunt that had spanned portions of Burke, Caldwell, and McDowell Counties, as well as Linville Gorge. 

Miller had been laid out for display at the foot of the monument. 

In a newspaper photo from the time, men can be seen standing on the memorial’s elevated base to get a better view of his body while hundreds of gawkers pack the square.

Nearly two weeks earlier, Miller had been accused of murdering Gladys Kincaid, a 15-year-old white girl. On the evening of Tuesday, June 21, Kincaid set out for home after her shift at Garrou Knitting Mill. She never made it home. Eventually, her brother found her in a clump of bushes with a massive head wound. A short iron pipe lay next to her on the ground.

Kincaid was still alive when found, but she died later that evening at Grace Hospital, then located where the CoMMA now stands.

A Black man had allegedly been seen in the area carrying a lead pipe. Witnesses identified the man as Miller, and others alleged he had been seen ogling Kincaid for two weeks prior as she passed by the boarding house on Bouchelle Street where Miller lived.

Authorities quickly began a search for Miller, but he was long-gone.

The following morning, county officials invoked a state law and designated Miller as an “outlaw.” That meant it was open season on the fugitive. 

The stage was set for a rare “legal” lynching, defined as an extrajudicial killing.

It didn’t take long for private entities to begin offering rewards for Miller’s capture. 

In describing the events, author Kevin W. Young, writing in “Blood in the Hills: A History of Violence in Appalachia,” said: “The intense search for Broadus Miller—a pursuit that would last for twelve days and involve thousands of private citizens—would thus be sanctioned by the state and financed by local businesses, while the outlawry proclamation and the offered rewards provided legal justification and considerable financial incentive for killing the fugitive.”

The frenzied manhunt that ensued raged into the gorge and into North Cove in McDowell County. That’s where a group of vigilantes that included one Commodore Vanderbilt Burleson eventually caught up with Miller.

It was Burleson who was alone when he confronted Miller on a wooded hillside near Concord United Methodist Church in the Ashford community, and it was Burleson who killed Miller with a pistol shot to the chest.

The men dragged Miller’s body out of the woods with a rope, stuffed him into the back of a Model T, and headed for Morganton. 

Initially, Miller’s body was brought to the courthouse door, but was later moved underneath the monument. According to reports, Miller lay at the foot of the memorial for an hour before the rapidly growing and increasing boisterous crowd – some of whom seemed determined to mutilate the corpse – prompted officers to bring the dead fugitive inside the nearby jail. 

Eventually, the size and fervor of the throng convinced Sheriff John Julius Hallyburton to order Miller’s body placed atop a board at the north end of the courthouse. Thousands of people then lined up to file past the grisly display.

Miller was eventually buried in an unmarked grave in Statesville. Newspapers all over the state and from as far away as Chicago picked up the story, some of them condemning the action in editorials and others applauding it.

Marty Queen is the senior reporter for The Paper. He may be reached at 828-445-8595 or at marty@thepaper.media.