photo by: Watkins Museum of History

The old bridge across the Kansas River near downtown Lawrence is pictured in 1866. The bridge was used to lynch three black men in 1882.

City leaders will soon decide whether to move forward with a project that would add a historical marker at a site where three Black men were lynched in 1882 near current-day City Hall.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider authorizing an agreement with the Community Remembrance Project Coalition for the Equal Justice Initiative historical marker project. The Lawrence chapter of the NAACP has been working with the EJI, the creator of a national lynching memorial in Montgomery, Ala., to erect a historical marker in Lawrence with information about the lynching.

City leaders have already expressed support for the project. In November, the commission voted unanimously to join the community coalition led by the NAACP to memorialize the lynching, with the understanding that a separate process for the placement of the marker would come later.

Since that meeting, city staff has worked together with coalition and the Lawrence NAACP in crafting the terms of an agreement for selecting a site for the marker, as well as the acquisition, installation and maintenance of a plaque, according to a city staff memo to the commission. The proposed site for the plaque is located generally at the northwest corner of the lawn of the City Hall property, 6 E. Sixth St.

The memo states that the plaque is expected to help build local awareness and enable truthful conversations about the legacy of racial terrorism and injustice through the historical marker project of the Equal Justice Initiative. The memo states that the cost to install and maintain the marker is within the current Parks and Recreation budget authority but does not provide a cost at this time.

The proposed agreement, which is attached to the city memo, states in part that a joint coordinating committee will submit a recommendation for the type and configuration of the plaque and its estimated cost. The agreement also states that the Parks and Rec department will install the marker free of charge and maintain the marker and the site going forward.

The Lawrence NAACP History Committee has been working formally on the historical marker project for about a year, as the Journal-World previously reported. The goal is to erect a marker that will provide information about the victims and the lynching on the bank of the Kansas River where the event occurred.

In the summer of 1882, the body of David Bausman, who was white, was pulled from the Kansas River, according to newspaper and other local archives reviewed by the Journal-World. Pete Vinegar, Isaac King and George Robertson, all of whom were Black, were arrested in connection with the murder, as was Vinegar’s teenage daughter Margaret “Sis” Vinegar. Pete Vinegar was never charged with a crime. Before a trial could be held, Vinegar, King and Robertson were lynched from a bridge over the river by a mob of men who broke into the jail in the middle of the night.

Accounts of Bausman’s murder in historical documents are varied, but they seem to agree that Bausman, who was in his mid-40s, had been having sex with Margaret, who was only about 14, when King and Robertson came upon the scene and allegedly killed him. Though Margaret was not hanged, she was convicted of murder and later died in prison. She was accused of conspiring with the other two men to rob Bausman, though her attorney argued there was no evidence for that accusation.

The proposed marker has received administrative approval from Historic Resources Administrator Lynne Braddock Zollner to be installed on the City Hall site. The Historic Resources Commission will confirm the administrative approval at its meeting Sept. 17, according to the memo. Zollner will review the final text of the marker for accuracy prior to installation.

The City Commission will convene virtually at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, with limited staff members in place at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. The city has asked that residents participate in the meeting virtually, if they are able to do so, using temporary meeting procedures put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Directions for submitting public comment and correspondence are included in the meeting agenda that is available on the city’s website, lawrenceks.org.