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Testimony of Ernest Parham. Parham describes living with his parents in Sumner at the time of the massacre and working in the Cummer lumber mill company store. Parham said he heard reports from customers on New Year's Day in 1923 that Francis Taylor had been assaulted by someone. Parham then recalls an uptick in ammunition sales at the store he worked at not long after January 1st. Parham's states that the store manager soon told him to put the remaining ammunition away after men began stealing it from the store. Parham says that he closed the store in the early evening on January 4th and found Sherrif's Deputy Clarence William's car unattended outside. Parham states that he drove Deputy William's car around the area looking for him on the road between Sumner and Rosewood. Parham recalls Deputy Williams casually sitting on a car running board talking with someone. Parham recalls that he could hear noises from a large crowd and walked towardsthe noise. Parham describes how by the time he arrived, members of this mob had captured Rosewood resident Sam Carter. Parham describes how members of the mob tortured Sam Carter and asked him for the location of Fanny Taylor's attacker. Parham states that he tried to reason with the mob to stop torturing Carter. Parham then states that when Carter did not lead the mob and their scent dogs to the last known location of the attacker, one of the mob members shot and killed Carter. Parham confirms that Deputy Williams never approached the mob during this lynching. Parham also states that the coroner's inquest of the death of Sam Carter, which occurred less than 24 hours after the murder, featured no witnesses to the crime. Parham mentions that he was recently interviewed by the Florida Department Law Enforcement in relation to the murder of Sam Carter. Parham recalls how Deputy Williams stayed at his parent's hotel, the only one in Sumner, during the massacre. Parham recalls that Deputy Williams sat in the lobby of the hotel and ackowledged the violence occuring in Rosewood, but did not leave to intervene. Parham describes how "Cephus" Studstill, one of the mob members injured in the Carrier house attack, came into the hotel late that same evening with a gunshot wound. Parham describes how later during the week of the massacre, he and several other armed men confronted the mob along the main road heading from Rosewood to Sumner. Fearing that the mob had plans to attack the black community members of Sumner, Parham and the other men threatened violence to any mob members who entered Sumner. Parham spoke about his stepfather's role after the massacre of burying the bodies of the people killed at Rosewood. Parham asserts that he was not a member of the Rosewood mob, and that after the killing of Sam Carter, much of the Sumner community separated themselves from association with the mob. Parham contends that towards the end of the events at Rosewood, the mob was comprised mainly of men from outside of Levy County. Parham is crossexamined by James Peters, the Assistant Attorney General for the state of Florida.

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