Will Reynolds

William Reynolds

The shooting, known as the Will Reynolds Incident, though the 1903 Winfield massacre is generally regarded as the first mass shooting by motivation. It was the deadliest shooting by a lone gunman in Alabama's history until the Geneva County massacre a century later.

Background Reynolds was a former resident of Birmingham who lived in Knardtown, a black neighborhood of Tuscumbia. He was married to a local woman and formerly worked as a brakeman for Southern Railway. He was around 35 at the time of the shooting. from Isbell's furniture store. A warrant was issued for one count of obtaining goods under false pretenses. He left for Birmingham shortly after, returning to Knardtown after several months in early 1902, a few days before the shooting. Reynolds had reportedly anticipated his arrest, apparently having stockpiled several hundred rounds of ammunition and telling a neighbor that he would never be taken alive. Gassaway arrived in the settlement with the claimant Isbell at Reynolds' three-room cottage from another room and shot Gassaway twice in the stomach and arm at a distance of , mortally wounding him. Isbell fled as Reynolds fired at him, with all gunshots missing. Gassaway was able to crawl away into the yard to take cover behind a wagon. Gassaway returned fire at Reynolds, striking him with a single bullet, which grazed his left cheek and nearly his eye. Reynolds again fired at Gassaway, but missed. No one directly approached the house where Reynolds had hidden himself inside, but posse members threw dynamite in its direction from behind a hay or cotton bale, which had been loaded onto a wheeled cart to act as a barrier, though the explosives did not damage the building, with the strategy abandoned shortly after. From behind the bale cover, kerosene-filled bottles and cotton balls soaked with turpentine were also thrown at the roofs of houses surrounding Reynolds', destroying four of them, but leaving the targeted house undamaged. Over the course of four hours, the posse also spread coal oil in the houses next to Reynolds' location. arrived from Florence, distributing twelve rifles and 1,000 rounds of ammunition between twelve civilian men. The group surrounded the house and opened fire from all sides, In total, 2,000 people from the neighboring towns of Florence and Sheffield were involved in the entire operation, including all available surgeons. Posse member Jesse Davis died of his wounds two hours after the shooting, followed by Deputy Prout during the night. Sheriff Gassaway died on April 7, followed by his brother Deputy Gassaway in the afternoon. Jim Payne remained in serious condition as of April 10,

Nearly all of the casualties were from Tuscumbia, with most of them buried in Oakwood Cemetery, except for Bob Wallace, who was from Riverton, and Hugh Jones and Jim Payne, who were from Sheffield. Jesse Davis and Bob Wallace are sometimes listed as deputies,

Aftermath

Reactions The shootings were described as unprecedented in Alabama history, though with noted similarities to the shootings in New Orleans two years earlier by Robert Charles, also a black man who killed several police officers in a stand-off.

Racial tensions were high after the incident. The extrajudicial killing of other black men was subsequently justified as retaliation for Reynolds' actions.

Several newspapers praised Reynolds' "wonderful courage, coolness, and bravery". Historian Arthur Graves credits the aftermath of the shooting with improving race relations in Tuscumbia as white and black townsfolk "did everything they could to relieve [racial tensions]". Their homes had been worth between $2,000-2,500, with James having also lost a mare and colt in the fire while Spriggs' two mules were shot and killed by posse members during the shootout.

Reynolds is considered a victim of lynching and listed in the Alabama section of the Memorial to the Victims of Lynchings exhibit at America's Black Holocaust Museum.

The house where most of the shootout took place was not rebuilt. As of 2002, Deshler High School stadium was located on the site. The shooting is the topic of "The Will Reynolds Incident - A Shootout in Old Tuscumbia" at the annual Helen Keller Festival in Tuscumbia.