In 1926, Quillen owned and operated the Globe Theater and the Hamilton Hotel. Quillen worked to obtain $100,000 from the Federal Administration to build a sewage system for Berlin. On October 17, 1931, a mob of “fifty local white citizens terrorized the Black community of Berlin for nearly two hours” in response to the arrest of Euel Lee; Quillen denied reports of mob violence (Chavis, 2022).
Chavis, C. L. (2022). The silent shore: the lynching of Matthew Williams and the politics of racism in the free state. Johns Hopkins University Press.
