Sycamore Row - John Grisham

“I’m afraid to ask,” Jake said.
“You got it. We’re number one, at almost six hundred, and all but forty were black.
Georgia is a close second, Texas a close third. So I remember reading this book and
thinking, Six hundred is a lot. How many were in Ford County? I went back a hundred
years and read every copy of the Times. I found only three, all black, and there was no
record of Sylvester Rinds.”
“Who compiled these numbers?” Jake asked.
“There have been studies, but you have to question their validity.”
“If they knew of six hundred,” Harry Rex said, “you can bet there were a lot more.”
Willie took a swig of beer and said, “And guess how many people were charged with
murder for taking part in a lynch mob.”
“Zero.”
“You got it. Not a single person. It was the law of the land, and black folks were fair
game.”
“Kinda makes me sick,” Jake said.
“Well, old buddy, your jury’s sick too,” Willie said, “and they’re on your side.”
At 1:30, the jurors reassembled in the deliberation room, and there was not a single
word uttered about the trial. A bailiff led them into the courtroom. The large screen was
gone. There were no more witnesses. Judge Atlee looked down and said, “Mr. Brigance,
your closing argument.”
Jake walked to the podium without a legal pad; he had no notes. He began by saying,
“This will be the shortest closing argument in the history of this courtroom, because
nothing I can say could ever be as persuasive as the testimony of Ancil Hubbard. The
longer I talk, the more distance I put between him and your deliberations, so I’ll be
brief. I want you to remember everything he said, not that anyone who heard it is likely
to forget. Trials often take unexpected turns. When we started this one on Monday,
none of us could have predicted that a lynching would explain the mystery of why Seth
Hubbard left his fortune to Lettie Lang. His father lynched her grandfather in 1930. And
after he killed him, he took his land and scattered his family, and Ancil told that story
far better than I’ll ever be able to. For six months, many of us have wondered why Seth
did what he did. Now we know. Now it’s clear.
“Personally, I have a new admiration for Seth, a man I never met. In spite of his
flaws, and we all have our own, he was a brilliant man. Who else do you know who
could put together such a fortune in ten years? But beyond that, he somehow managed
to keep track of Esther and Lois, and then Lettie. Some fifty years later, he called Lettie
and offered her the job; she did not call him. He planned it all, folks. He was brilliant. I
admire Seth because of his courage. He knew he was dying, yet he refused to do what
would have been expected. He chose a far more controversial route. He knew his
reputation would be tarnished, that his family would curse his name, but he didn’t care.
He did what he thought was right.”