Andrew Sanders, (colored) was convicted of murdering Michael Miller earlier this year. Consequently, he was hung yesterday, August 26, 1881, in Covington, Tennessee.
(Daily Evening Bulletin, (San Francisco, CA) Saturday, August 27, 1881)
Additional Information by John Shaw
Regarding the hanging of Andrew Sanders at Covington, and the vain efforts of attorney John Boyd to win his reprieve. I am well aware that this is a difficult and painful subject, but it is of historic interest, not the least of which because of the mention of Esquire Boyd of Mason, who was a Black member of the Tipton County Court at one time.
[Memphis Daily Appeal, August 26, 1881]
Hanging of Andrew Sanders at Covington. His remarkable last words of indictment: ” I have nothing to say, Mr. Reeves, that would be of any profit to your people at all. If I was to speak, I would speak altogether against your people. I feel justifiable in what I done, I feel that I done right. If a white man interferes with a colored man’s wife, he passes on. If a colored man interferes with a white man’s wife, he dies. Don’t let your hearts be troubled by this scene. If you colored people do not do something to protect your wives, what will you come to? You will come back to bondage.”
Memphis Daily Appeal, August 27, 1881