"Among the dozen prisoners who were brought to the court house from the jail Saturday afternoon was ... Edward Janifer of Cambridge who had been bound over to the grand jury on the charge of murder of one of his fellow men, George Davenport, killed at Shawsheen Grove in Andover, by a bullet from a revolver fired by Janifer. There was a look of resignation, but not despair, on his face as the accused man took his seat in the prisoners' dock beside his companions. Twenty feet away sat his wife and a lady friend, eagerly awaiting the report of the finding of the grand jury, which so much to her and to him. Husband and wife had a long, anxious wait as the report of the jury was not made known for over an hour after the appointed time. At times they exchanged glances, the wife's face always wreathed in a confident smile, which the husband answered with a look which told all who saw it that was guiltless of all crime, notwithstanding that he had killed a man.

After the jury had filed in and been counted, Clerk Woodbury took the papers and the first name he read was that of Janifer. The negro stood up, tall and straight. A moment later and he had heard the welcome words" "The grand jury finds no bill against you and you are free  to go." Janifer's wife rushed to him and kissed him. The man's face lighted up with joy, and picking up his hat he walked out of the court room.

The officers at the jail and all who have had any dealings with him since the unfortunate shooting say that he has shown a splendid spirit, regretting exceedingly that Davenport had died but confident that his innocence of any crime would be proven, as he appeared to feel certain that it would be clearly proven before the jurors that he fired to save his own life and not to take away Davenport's."

W.E.. DuBois and founding members of the Niagara Movement at Niagara Falls in 1905

The Niagara Movement was founded by W.E.B. DuBois and William Monroe Trotter in 1905 to develop and promote a more radical course to social equality. Fifty-nine people were invited to the first conference, which was held on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls in July 1905. Committees were formed to address social issues such as voting rights, and segregation in travel and education.

The Movement grew rapidly over the next year to 170 members in twenty-one states. Four more conferences were held between 1906 and 1909. By then internal divisions and financial problems had taken their toll and the Niagara Movement disbanded in 1910.

The work of the Movement lived on when DuBois and others formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909.