Incident at Ashton

Republished with a foreword by John Tisdale,director of TCU’s School of Journalism, thelate Jay Milner’s novel is a riveting portrayal of ascenario that unhappily mirrored real-life incidentsthroughout the South in the mid-twentieth century. In Ashton, a fictional town in the deep South, anelderly black man walked into the courthouseone day and made a simple request. He wantedto register to vote. At first the clerk was confused.Never before in the town’s history had a Negrodisplayed such arrogance. He tried to discouragehim, but the old man was adamant. A few dayslater they pulled his body from the river, a gapingwound in his head. Only a few years earlier, thisincident would have gone practically unnoticed inAshton. But that time was past. Phil Arrow, a youngnewspaperman, demanded a full measure of justicefrom the people of his town.