Soil Collection Ceremony From the 2 Lynching Sites in Salt Lake City

Jars full of soil from the lynch sites of Thomas Coleman and William Harvey.

On Saturday, June 11, 2022, I participated in the Soil Collection Ceremony for the 2 lynchings that occurred in Salt Lake City's past. 

Soil from the lynching sites were collected, placed in labeled jars, and then sent to the Equal Justice Initiative’s (EJI) Legacy Museum in Alabama to join the other jars of soil from lynching sites around the country.

The two Black men lynched in SLC are Thomas Coleman and William Harvey.

Mr. Thomas Coleman
Thomas Coleman arrived in SLC in the early 1850’s as a slave with a party of Southern LDS slave-owners who were traveling to and settling in Utah. He subsequently worked for Brigham Young at the Salt Lake House hotel in downtown SLC and is believed to have joined the LDS faith.

The exact circumstances surrounding Coleman’s murder remain a mystery. What is known is that on Dec 11, 1866 several boys playing on Arsenal Hill (now Capitol Hill) overlooking SLC found his body. With his own knife, Coleman was stabbed in the chest twice and his throat was cut so deep that he was nearly decapitated. A sign was also left on his body that read, “Notice to all N*****s. Take warning. Leave white women alone.” He was 35 when he died.

The soil collection ceremony started at the steps of the Utah State Capitol, within view of the site of Thomas Colemans's murder (now the southwest lawn of the Capitol building).  

Ceremony at the Utah State Capitol. The lynching site of Thomas Coleman is on the southwest side of Capitol Hill.

Soil collection spoons for Thomas Coleman.

My spoon with soil at the flag marking the lynching site of Thomas Coleman on Capitol Hill.

Literature from the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). This report of Lynching in America is on the EJI website

We then marched from the Utah State Capitol Building to the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building at 125 S State Street, the location of the Old City Hall building (which was moved to Capitol Hill and now serves as the Utah Office of Tourism).  

Mr. William "Sam Joe" Harvey
William Harvey (sometimes “Sam” or “Sam Joe” because he served "Uncle Sam" in the US Army) arrived in SLC in early August 1883. Little is known about his life prior to that point. He came from Pueblo, Colorado. He was an Army veteran about 35 years old and tall with an athletic build. Harvey set up a bootblack stand on Main Street. He was described as irritable and some worried about his mental health.

On August 25, 1883, just weeks after his arrival, Harvey got into an argument with F. H. Grice, a local Black restaurant owner; Harvey allegedly pulled a gun on Grice but then fled the scene without harming anyone. Harvey was soon confronted by the SLC Police, whereupon Harvey is alleged to have shot 2 police officers, of which one died. Harvey was tackled, taken into custody, and led two blocks away to City Hall (now the location of the Wallace F Bennet federal building).

A crowd quickly devolved into a mob demanding blood for the slain officer. Other police officers, after beating Harvey, turned him over to the mob that grew to an estimated 2,000 who then secured a rope around Harvey’s neck and hung him from a rafter of the jailhouse stable, adjacent to City Hall, where he died slowly and fighting for his life. After Harvey died, the crowd then drug his body down State Street for several blocks.

 Lynch site of William Harvey, previously the site of the Old City Hall and Jail and now the site of the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building. The lynching site is near the SW portion of the building.

The story of William Harvey’s lynching told by @blackmenaces

Me, adding soil to William Harvey’s jar.

I also took the suggestion to use my hands to feel the soil when filling the jar. 

My hands with soil from the site of William Harvey’s lynching. 

The courtyard at the Wallace F Bennett federal building is near the lynching site of William Harvey. 

A small rose garden grows along the edges of the courtyard. This is a relatively quiet reflection spot. I think I will write to someone (GSA?) to recommend more roses be planted. 

Save Utah's Black History. And Tell the Story. Sema Hadithi Foundation.

I am part of the Sema Hadithi Foundation, and I hope you will read about them, sign up for the newsletter, and share some of the many stories. https://www.semahadithi.org/

Angelo Caravaglia's Fountain Sculpture at the Wallace F Bennett Building

Another locally famous sculpture by Angelo Caravaglia is a cast stone fountain in front of the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building at 125 S State Salt Lake City, which debuted in 1966.

Caravaglia was prolific with his art, especially in the 1960s. In 1963 following a return from Italy his title at the University of Utah was changed to “three-dimensional designer” to better reflect his work. Notably, in 1964 he carved the wood doors of St. Margaret’s Chapel at Rowland Hall and in 1965 he was selected to create a bronze fountain for the old Salt Lake City Library (now the Leonardo).

The sculpture for the Federal Building was commissioned in 1965 under the Art in Architecture program and was a collaboration between architects Lloyd Snedeker and Wesley Budd and artist Angelo Caravaggio.

Snedeker recalled that “we didn’t want the usual pioneer woman but a contemporary statue. This reflects to some degree the shapes of the window mullions, the cast stone dividers and other architectural elements [of the Federal Building]."

Budd further explained that “when the sun shines on the sculpture the shadows offer many changing moods and the tone will seem to change color. We made several studies of a suitable sculpture and we are pleased with it.” And “the sculpture doesn’t represent anything in particular. We hope it will be pleasing to passers-by and serve as a conversation piece. “ 

The sculpture is a functional fountain and stands within a pool of water. Each of the 14 unique columns is piped separately for water. The spraying water runs in grooves etched into the design. The color of the material was specially selected to glisten in the lights at dark.

The reactions to the sculpture by Salt Lakers were mixed. Most were confused and asked what it was. Some praised it and found it to be appropriate for a growing city.

And some Salt Lakers disliked it, a lot. One man called it “lousy” and another said he would rather go back to the past if this sculpture represented modern art. And there was this classic response: It looks like heck.”

Caravaglia was not disturbed by any of the comments about the sculpture. His only direct response was that “The material it is made from will last a long, long time.”

Of note, this fountain has been featured in some local cult classic films including Revenge of the Ninja (1983) and Ruben and Ed (1991)

Clip from "Revenge of the Ninja" film from 1983

 

Clip from "Ruben and Ed" film from 1991

 
Sources

• Deseret News Tue Oct 11 1966
• The Salt Lake Tribune Wed Oct 12 1966
• The Evening Sun Thu Oct 13 1966
• Deseret News Wed Oct 19 1966
• The Salt Lake Tribune Sun May 25 1986
• http://www.angelocaravaglia.com/
• In Memoriam Angelo Caravaglia: 1925-2008. www.artistsofutah.org

SLC’s First Homeless Shelter was Established in 1883

SLC transient bunkhouse building behind City Hall.
Detail of Panoramic view Illustration 1887, From UDSH.

SLC Mayor William Jennings proposed to the SLC Council in Dec 1883 that a dedicated shelter for transient people would be better than the practice of allowing the “tramps” to stay overnight in the City Jail.

Jennings explained that he often received visitors to his home (the Devereaux House) asking for overnight lodging and when a person was told that they would be locked in the City Jail with the prisoners they often refused preferring to walk the streets all night. He reasoned that if a suitable place were provided it would reduce “after dark crimes” within SLC.

Arrangements were made to clear a small storage building behind the City Hall building (relocated to Capitol Hill in 1961) and east of the City Jail. This area is now occupied by the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building at the corner of 100 S and State St.

Bunks were provided to house about a dozen people. The City Marshall had charge over the new City Bunkhouse as well as the City Jail.

As with other cities in the US which had established municipal lodgings, SLC required lodgers to work for a night’s stay and a breakfast meal, usually by providing labor on the streets or in gravel pits.

SLC provided lodging off and on for about the next 15 years. Newspaper reports are spotty, but it seems that sometimes the building was used for transient lodging, sometimes it was used as overflow for jail inmates, and sometimes it was used for storage.

An 1891 article reports that the bunkhouse was so dirty and rundown it was “unfit to lodge any human being and is a disgrace to the city.” By 1899 it was described as the “dilapidated old city bunkhouse” and it seems that SLC stopped providing lodging services to transient people soon thereafter.

(Tramp = a long-term homeless person who travels from place to place, especially after 1877).

Sources: SL Herald 1883-12-05, 1886-09-16, 1891-11-22; SL Trib 1893-12-13

1884 SLC Sanborn Map

Detail, 1884 SLC Sanborn Map

 Inside the municipal Lodging House in NYC. From Broke, by Edwin A. Brown, 1913.
The SLC shelter had bunks such as these, but in a much smaller building.