On July 12, 1947, the New York Times published an article with the headline “Five Convicts Slain in Break in Georgia.” It opened: “Five Negro convicts were shot to death and eight others were wounded, two critically, in an escape attempt at a state highway work camp today, Warden H. G. Worthy said. The article continued, relying heavily on the warden’s account of events.

The initial account of what happened at Anguilla Prison Camp on July 11, 1947 turned out to be remarkable after all: It was a complete lie.
What actually took place at Anguilla was a massacre.