Local author hosts signing ______________________

Local author Tom Collins said he started writing his book ‘Justice Denied: The Cursed Destiny of Gus Finley’ in 2018. However, the research for his novel took 40 years.

A signing for that book was held recently at the Daingerfield Public Library.

“I started researching the story in ‘79 when we first moved here,” Collins said. “ That’s 40 years. And the first few years, I found little. It really was after Google came along and I was able to do computer searches that I was able to locate graves, locate sites, and the story happened about a quarter of a mile from my house.”

The story of Gus Finley is unknown to many people. But to Daingerfield residents, they know it as a tale of sorrow.

It was in 1913 that Gus Finley, a black farmer who lived in Daingerfield, was hung by a mob. A week later, the shooting of George Finley, Gus’ younger brother, made the family move to the Greenville area.

Collins grew up in the Rio Grande Valley and moved to Daingerfield in 1979. He said he recalled hearing about the lynching from residents in the area, leading him to start his search for answers, “ They were pretty disconcerting rumors and over time, I began to look for the story. I wanted it to be as accurate as possible, notwithstanding the gaps in information available, but as much as I could get it accurate.”

Collins said he’s even had the chance to meet descendants of the Finley family. He expressed pride for his work, “So I sat there at a book signing with the great-great-granddaughter of Gus Finley and the great-great-grandson of Gus Finley and sold them a few books, signed the books and had a lot of conversation. One lady put her hand on my shoulder with tears running down her face and said ‘it may have taken 110 years for Gus’ story to be told, but you finally told it. Thank you.’ And then she cried. I knew I’d done the right thing.” So far, Collins’ book has five-star reviews on Amazon and he’s also planning a few other writing projects.