Private Papers of Johnny Robins IV, as cited in Chapter 4 of "Show Time: The Logic and Power of Violent Display" by Lee Ann Fujii (Cornell University Press, 2021)

Abstract

John B. Robins IV was the Somerset County, Maryland, States Attorney at the time that George Armwood was lynched on Maryland's Eastern Shore in October 1933. These papers, in a single PDF file, are documents exchanged between Robins and Maryland Attorney General William Preston Lane, Jr. They include statements by Robins, Mary Denston, George Armwood, and the State police officers who witnessed the lynching in Princess Anne, as well as other documentation. As a result of the interviews with State police, several mob members were identified. Included here is a tabular summary of those mob members. Readers are cautioned against making conclusions based primarily on the statements of Denston and Armwood. If anything, they raise more questions than answers.

The Johnny Robins IV Private Papers were donated by Robins to Linda Duyer, an independent historian and chair of the Salisbury (MD) Historical Marker Task Force, without conditions and granted permission to share.