Pierce City Apologizes for Century Old Lynching

The community of Pierce City has apologized for mob violence that drove black people out of the town in 1901, but it has told descendants of a Black Civil War veteran it will not reimburse them for moving his remains to Springfield. Blacks fled from Pierce City after a black man was lynched and their homes were attacked in 1901. Brothers Charles and James Brown of St. Louis learned a few years ago their great-grandfather had been buried in Pierce City three years before those incidents and they moved his remains to Springfield. Then they asked the city to apologize for its treatment of Blacks and pay for the costs of moving the remains. The matter became a public issue when they gave a copy of their letter to the Monett Times, a newspaper in the area. Mayor Mark Peters says the city owes an apology for the incidents in 1901, but he says opening a checkbook in 2005 won’t right wrongs committed in 1901.