The September 7, 1904, Springfield (MO) Daily Republican reported that two nights earlier a black man named Jack McCracken had tried to rape Mrs. J. R. (Anna) Brake while her husband, a Springfield policeman, was on duty. Supposedly, McCracken broke into the Brake home late on the night of the 7th while Mrs. Brake was asleep in bed with her baby. She was awakened when the "brute" grabbed her and dragged her out of bed to the floor. However, Anna screamed and fought, frightening McCracken away, as several neighbors rushed to the woman's assistance.
Anna recognized McCracken because he had worked at her house on several occasions, and she picked him out as her attacker the next day when he and several other black men were brought before her in a quasi-lineup. McCracken was whisked away to jail and charged with burglary and attempted rape.
The supposed attack on Anna Brake "stirred up the people of Springfield," and a mob formed on the night of the 6th and went to the jail, intent of taking McCracken out and lynching him. However, the mob spirit had been building throughout the day, giving officers time to whisk McCracken out of town for safekeeping. "Their appetite for human blood unsatisfied," the mob reluctantly broke up in the wee hours of the morning on the 7th.
A month or so later, J. A. "Jesse" Brake began circulating a treatise on the so-called "race problem." The thrust of the virulently racist pamphlet was that black men were responsible for most of the lawlessness in the country. Brake especially decried the "unmentionable crime" of black men attacking white women, which, according to Brake, was unheard of during the days of slavery but had shot up in recent years. If something wasn't done to curb the "fiendish lust" of black men and to reverse the rising tide of crime in general, the people of the United States would have to decide what was the best and quickest way to dispose of all of its citizens "who may be unfortunate enough to have even a taint of African blood in their veins."
On the last day November 1904, McCracken, through his lawyer, applied for a change of venue on the grounds that he had not been able to prepare his defense because he was in constant fear for his life and always having to be moved to prevent mob action. He had been taken to Christian County shortly after his arrest because of the threat from a mob that included Jesse Brake dressed in his police uniform. After his return to Greene County, he was still in danger from the mob and removed again. He had recently been brought back again, but now he was in danger from Anna Brake, who was carrying a pistol and had been encouraged by her husband to kill McCracken on sight. The defendant was assigned a new judge to hear his case, but otherwise the request for a change of venue was not granted.
McCracken pleaded guilty to both charges against him when his trial came up a few days later. He insisted that he was not guilty of what Mrs. Brake had accused him of, but he knew he would not get a fair trial and that he stood no chance of acquittal on the charge of attacking a white woman. He feared mob violence and figured he was safer in jail than walking the streets of Springfield. He was sentenced to 30 years in the state pen, and he was hauled away to Jefferson City in early February 1905.
That's where the case stood until mid-1908 when Mrs. Brake came forward to recant the story she had told at the time of the supposed crime. She and her husband had recently separated, and Brake had resigned from the police force over three years earlier. Mrs. Brake said that McCracken was "no more at fault" than she was. Not only was McCracken not guilty of attacking her, but he was also "a good friend" of hers. She said that for the sake of "the little one" she thought McCracken should be released. She began advocating for his pardon, urging others to do the same, and circulating a petition on his behalf. The "little one" was a reference to her four-year-old mixed-race child, whose father was, in fact, Jack McCracken.
Mrs. Brake said she had lied at the time of her and McCracken's so-called crime because she feared for her life if she told the truth. In making her admission, she asked that it be kept secret until she had time to get out of town, because she feared violence even now.
Shortly after making her confession, Mrs. Brake left Springfield. A few days after that, J. R. Brake turned "a four-year-old negro boy" over to the county court, and the child was taken to the county farm. In September 1908, Brake was granted a divorce from his wife.
In May 1909, Jack McCracken was released from the state prison by order of the governor after two Springfield lawyers working on his behalf were able to prove beyond doubt that he was not guilty of the charge for which he was serving time. McCracken had not broken into the Brake home and tried to rape Anna at all but had merely called at the home seeking to see his little son.
After his release, McCracken came back to Springfield and worked as a chauffeur, but what happened to Mrs. Brake has not been traced.
Sources: Various Springfield newspapers, White Man's Heaven by Kimberly Harper.
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