HIGH POINT CONFIDENTIAL - Mistaken identity led to slaying of the wrong man in 1913

Yahoo

22-03-2025

HIGH POINT — Do you have a doppelganger — you know, someone who looks exactly like you?
A High Point man named Luther Allen had a doppelganger ... and it got him killed.
The year was 1913. Early that December, the city launched a sting operation designed to crack down on 'blind tigers,' the name given to illegal drinking establishments. Most notably, the operation aimed to shut down bootleggers who were selling whiskey to African Americans.
To that end, the city hired a Black detective named Robert Hall to infiltrate the Black community, identify the bootleggers and have them hauled off to jail. The detective was apparently very good at his job — on the afternoon of Dec. 6, 1913, more than a dozen bootleggers were arrested as a direct result of Hall's efforts.
City police, of course, were thrilled with the arrests, but the bootleggers' customers? Um, not so much.
So that same night, as news of the arrests spread throughout the Black community, an angry mob formed and sought out the detective. When they found him, sometime between 11 p.m. and midnight, they killed him — except that it wasn't actually Hall that they killed. It was his lookalike, Luther Allen, a husband and father of two who had nothing to do with the bootleggers' arrests.
Several area newspapers reported on the murderous mistake.
'There is little doubt that the murder was committed by friends of the retailers, who were seeking revenge against the detective,' one newspaper wrote. 'In their haste and madness, the bloodthirsty mob mistook Allen for the detective Hall.'
Another wrote that the mob considered the detective to be 'treacherous to his race.'
So they didn't just kill the innocent man — they made it personal.
'The body of the deceased was badly mutilated,' the newspaper reported. 'The dead man had been shot through the heart, his right leg was badly cut, and his skull appeared to have been crushed with a heavy club.'
The news of the murder rocked the community, particularly when residents realized an innocent man had been killed. Police acted quickly and made several arrests, but making the suspects pay for the crime would be another matter.
'(The county coroner) conducted an inquest,' one newspaper reported, 'and although more than a dozen witnesses were examined in the course of the investigation, it was impossible to find evidence sufficient to hold anyone for the crime.'
In other words, the mob walked.
And what became of Detective Robert Hall?
Well, he heard the murmurs and realized he might be in danger, so he went to the police and had himself locked up in the city's municipal jail, to protect himself from the mob.
'To that act of prudence he doubtless owes his life,' one news account read.
And conversely, that same act of prudence probably cost his doppelganger, Luther Allen, his life.
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