This is further proof that Shaun Assael had nor has any official records to base his theories or investigative reporting on. And it is further proof that he is just guessing about the events that happened surrounding the death and life of Sonny Liston.
“By burning them to death the lynchers, in effect, reenacted the crime Cato and Reed had allegedly committed against the Hodgeses, performing a literal retaliatory vengeance on them. When some members of the mob had proposed hanging the men, the crowd had protested and demanded a burning, reportedly yelling. “They burned the Hodges and gave them no choice burn the niggers!” The mob thus re-created the scene of “smouldering ruins” filled with the “stench of burning flesh” that witnesses had experienced at the Hodges house. They could now see the death that haunted their imaginations projected onto the two black men, an event that eased their worst fears by making them visible. The event could, for this reason, be celebrated without restraint. A local photographer snapped pictures, and afterward, the spectators scrambled for souvenirs. The chains that held the men were broken and distributed, as were pieces of the burned tree stump and charred bones. In an expecially assertive act of defiance against the state, one young man brought remnants of bone back to town as an offering for Daly, who reacted with disgust.- LYNCHING AND SPECTACLE, AMY LOUISE WOOD