Uncommon commons: In more than 30 years in sportscards publishing I have thrown
hundreds of notes into files about the players – usually non-star players – who
made up the majority of the baseball and football cards I collected as a kid.
Today, I keep adding to those files as I peruse microfilms of The Sporting News from the 1880s through
the 1960s. I found these tidbits brought some life to the player pictures on
those cards. I figure that if I enjoyed them, you might too.
A
brief in the “Caught on the Fly” column of the July 22, 1943, issue of The Sporting News, reported . . .
James
(Jumbo Jim) Elliott, former pitcher with the Browns, Dodgers, Phillies and
Braves, who made his last Organized Baseball appearance with the Indianapolis
American Association Indians in 1936, was one of 13 named in an indictment in
East St. Louis, Ill., July 14, in connection with the killing of a Negro by a
mob near Paris, Ill., last Oct. 12. The victim, James Edward Person,
33-year-old former soldier, is alleged to have been shot to death by a posse
which pursued him across the Indiana-Illinois state line after residents of
Vigo County, Indiana, had been aroused by circulation of false rumors
concerning him. Elliott was a deputy sheriff of Vigo County when the killing
took place.
Person’s
lynching was immediately precipitated by a complaint by a local woman who told
the sheriff that she had been “bothered” by a black man who had come to her
back door looking for work or a handout.
Person,
from Somerville, Tenn., was an honorably discharged veteran who was said to
have been living in the woods in the vicinity of the Indiana-Illinois border.
He was reported to have upset a number of white families in the area (the area
was all-white) by peering into windows.
Vigo
County Sheriff James Trierweiler formed a posse including some deputies and
nine local farmers and set out in pursuit of Person. According to the federal
indictment, the sheriff authorized the posse to shoot Person on sight.
Spotted
on the Indiana side of the border, shots were fired and it was believed Person
had been hit, but he continued his flight and crossed over into Illinois.
The
vigilantes again caught up to Person as he was standing in a farmyard, eating a
turnip and talking to the farmer. The posse pulled up in two cars and piled
out. The farmer advised Person not to run, but he took off towards the woods
and was cut down in a hail of bullets. There was no indication he was armed at
the time.
Of
the 13 men indicted by the federal grand jury on a charge of conspiring to
deprive Person of his civil rights, nine stood trial. Each pleaded nolo contendere and was fined $200 and
court costs. The Vigo County sheriff, two deputies (one was Elliott) and a
retired deputy were not tried, as they had not been at the scene of the actual
shooting.
The
$200 fine handed down seems like a slap on the wrist for cold-blooded killing,
and it was. However, according to contemporary accounts, at that time the
maximum penalty on the federal charge was a $1,000 fine and/or a year in
prison.
Elliott
had played his first pro ball at Terre Haute, the Vigo County seat, between
1921-25. In 1925 he’d led the Three-I League with a 25-8 record. He went up to
the Pacific Coast League for 1926 where he won 26.
In
1923 he’d played one game with the St. Louis Browns in 1923, and three with
Brooklyn in 1925. When he returned to Brooklyn in 1927 he remained for four
seasons.
Elliott
was traded to the Phillies in the 1930 post-season in deal that brought Lefty O’Doul
to the Robins. In 1931 he led the National League with 19 wins.
The
Phils sold him to the Braves early in 1934 and he was, in turn, purchased by
Atlanta of the Southern Association in mid-June.
He
finished the 1934 season with Columbus in the American Association and ended
his playing days with Indianapolis.
After
retiring from baseball at age 35, Elliott had settled in Terre Haute, Ind.,
where he owned an automobile garage. In 1941 he was appointed as a deputy
sheriff in Vigo Co.
Elliott
served for 25 years, rising to the rank of chief deputy. In 1968 he ran for
sheriff of Vigo County as a Democrat. His opponent was former college, Olympic
and NBA basketball star Clyde Lovellette, on the Republican ticket. The race
attracted special interest because of the size of the candidates; Elliott was
6’3”, 250 lbs., Lovellette was 6’10”, 235 lbs. Lovellette won the election.
Elliott
died in 1970. His only mainstream baseball card was in the 1933 Goudey set.
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