Abraham Surasky
Abraham Surasky | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1873 |
| Died | July 29, 1903 |
| Occupation | Peddler |
| Spouse | Mary Levy |
Abraham Surasky was a Jewish-American peddler who was the victim of a 1903 antisemitic murder in rural South Carolina.
Life
[edit]Born in the shtetl of Knyszyn, Poland in 1873, Surasky was the youngest of the three Surasky brothers.[1]
On July 29, 1903, at the age of 30, Surasky was attacked and murdered by gun and by ax. The murderers were Lee Green and George Toole, both white Christian men. Surasky was working his route, about 15 miles from Aiken, when he was attacked by Lee Green while Surasky was attempting to help Green's wife Dora carry goods from her wagon into the house. Surasky's body was left in his buggy in the woods after being shot several times and axed twice in the head. An African-American teenage girl named Mary Drayton was hired by Lee and Dora to clean up the evidence of the crime while another person was hired to dispose of the body. According to Drayton's sworn affidavit, Lee Green had a long-standing hatred of Jewish peddlers and had previously shot at and attempted to murder another Jewish peddler named Levy three weeks prior. Another witness claimed that Green "was going to kill ever [sic] Jew peddler that came around and get shed of them.” Dora Green testified that Surasky had tried to sexually assault her and that her husband was a southern gentleman defending her honor. According to Drayton, the Greens had concocted the story after the fact. The court acquitted Lee Green of murder. Lee Green was convicted of murdering another person several years later.[2]
Surasky was buried in an unmarked grave at the Magnolia Cemetery in Augusta, Georgia. He was survived by two daughters, Dorothy and Mildred, who were raised by their uncle Sam Surasky and his wife Mary. In 1993, 90 years after his murder, a tombstone was unveiled at Surasky's grave. The grave had been located by Stephen Surasky, the grandson of Abraham's brother Solomon.[2][3]
See also
[edit]- Leo Frank
- Lynching of Samuel Bierfield and Lawrence Bowman
- Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner
References
[edit]- ^ "Southern Jewish History" (PDF). Southern Jewish Historical Society. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
- ^ a b "Suraskys and Poliers: The Old World Meets the New". Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
- ^ "The Surasky Family". Adath Yeshurun Synagogue. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
External links
[edit]- Abram Surasky at Find a Grave
- Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Mordecai Persky, Lowcountry Digital Library
- 1873 births
- 1903 deaths
- 1903 in Judaism
- 1903 murders in the United States
- American Ashkenazi Jews
- American people of Polish-Jewish descent
- Antisemitic attacks and incidents in the United States
- Christian terrorism in the United States
- False allegations of sex crimes
- Jewish-American lynching victims
- Lynching deaths in South Carolina
- Murdered American Jews
- People from Aiken, South Carolina
- People from Knyszyn
- People murdered in South Carolina
- Polish Ashkenazi Jews
- Emigrants from Congress Poland to the United States
- Street vendors
- Victims of antisemitic violence
- Aiken County, South Carolina
- Jews from South Carolina