'Jesus stepped in:' Man recounts horror of hanging attempt

Lynn Council says he was hanged from a tree in 1952 by two Wake County sheriff's deputies who wanted to scare him into confessing to a crime he didn't commit.

The tree – tall and majestic – is the backdrop of a suburban landscape that thousands of people pass every day, most of them unaware of an incident that Council says left indelible scars around his neck and seared in his memory.

Council and 7 others were accused of robbing a store outside Apex and were arrested by then-Apex Chief of Police Sam Bagwell. Newspapers from that era document Bagwell's reputation for brutality.

The robbery happened outside Bagwell's jurisdiction, so he drove Council to Wake County, where Council says deputies drove him to the tree, threw a rope over a branch and strung him up.

Council credits the Lord for saving his life.

"Jesus stepped in," he said. "That man up yonder. God. He stepped in."