Career
They were executed via the electric chair in 1915 for the murder in 1913 of 75-year-old John Q. Lewis, a Confederate veteran of Blackstock. The Griffin brothers were convicted based on the accusations of another black man, John "Monk" Stevenson, who was known to be a small-time thief. Stevenson who was found in possession of the victim"s pistol, was sentenced to life in prison in exchange for testifying against the brothers.
Two other African Americans, Nelson Brice and John Crosby, were executed with the brothers for the same crime.
However, some in the community believed that the murder might have been the result of Lewis"s suspected sexual relationship with 22-year-old Anna Davis. The Griffin brothers, who were believed to be the wealthiest blacks in the area, sold their 138-acre (056 km2) farm to pay for their defense against the accusations.
Over 100 people petitioned Government. Richard Manning to commute the brothers" sentence.
The signatories included prominent people including Blackstock"s mayor, a sheriff, two trial jurors and the grand jury foreman.
Nevertheless, they were sent to the electric chairman Thomas Griffin and Meeks Griffin were pardoned in October 2009 after Tom Joyner sought the pardons of his great-uncles from state appeals court in Columbia, South Carolina. Joyner learned about his relationship to the Griffins through a research conducted for the Public Broadcasting Service documentary, African American Lives 2, by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Junior., which also traced 11 other relatives.
