Swung Into Eternity A minister’s anti-slavery views proved fatal.

Anthony Bewley was a fire and brimstone Methodist pastor outside Fort Worth, Texas just before the Civil War. He was an abolitionist, which made him very unpopular—especially when rumors cropped up about an anti-slavery uprising. Bewley took his family and escaped to Missouri in July 1860. But a group of Texans followed and returned him to Fort Worth. On September 13, a mob lynched him near the courthouse. The remains were buried—but three weeks later, his bones were dug up and placed on top of a storehouse, where children played with them for many years.