William Francis Doherty

William Francis Doherty (died 19 November 1921) was an American electrical and mechanical engineer, who was killed by a mob of anti-British Indian activists in Bombay.
Early life
A person of Irish ancestry, William Francis Doherty was born in Texas. He studied at the Stanford University, and spent most of his life in California.
William F. Doherty went to India on the recommendation of General Electric, and joined the Tata Company as an employee. Later, he formed a partnership with Richard J. Brenchley, and worked in Bombay as the managing engineer and business associate of Brenchley's firm, which was engaged in sand extraction at Mumbra.
Murder
On 19 November 1921 at 11:30 am, Doherty was proceeding down the Tankpakada Street in Byculla, on his way to the Bombay Improvement Trust workshops in order to fix a machine.
Suddenly, an agitated mob of Indians surrounded him, shouting Sahib! Sahib! Maro! Maro! ("Sahib! Sahib! Kill! Kill!"). Due to his White skin, the mob mistook him for a British man and began to beat him. He pleaded that he was an American, but the mob refused to let him go. Doherty then defended himself by robbing a danda (a thick stick) from a person in the mob and fought back for fifteen minutes.
Gandhi's involvement
The mob that killed Doherty had become agitated after listening to an intense speech by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the leader of the Indian independence movement. In her testimony, Annette Doherty accused Gandhi of making "violent speeches" against the British, and inciting his followers "into a frenzy of race hatred".<ref name="After_Mother_India"/>
When Gandhi learned that an innocent American citizen had been murdered in his name, he became anxious that the incident may lead to the loss of the American sympathy for the Indian independence movement. He sent Sarojini Naidu as his emissary to Doherty's widow Annette Helen Doherty, who was then staying with an American family in Bombay.
Annette Doherty's account of Doherty's death and its aftermath was officially subscribed and sworn to before W. J. Schisel, Notary Public, County of Los Angeles, State of California on 4 January 1929. Annette Doherty stated that Sarojini Naidu asked her not to let the American public know about the incident:<ref name="After_Mother_India"/>
She also said that she met Gandhi at his headquarters in Bombay on Sarojini Naidu's insistence. Gandhi told her that the Americans should not learn about Doherty's murder, otherwise he might lose their much-needed sympathy, which might hurt his
movement.
The allegation of Gandhi's attempts to bribe Annette Doherty through Sarojini Naidu is an important theme in G. B. Singh's book Gandhi Behind the Mask of Divinity, which portrays Gandhi as a racist.

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