Tom runs because he is afraid of being seen with a white woman.
Tom Robinson never did anything to Mayella Ewell. He felt sorry for her because she was alone and had a lot of younger siblings to take care of, so he tried to help her. During the cross-examination when Tom Robinson testifies, the prosecutor Mr. Gilmer tries to convince the jury that Tom Robinson ran because he had done something wrong.
Robinson admits Mayella Ewell kissed him and he ran, but he says he never did anything to her. He certainly never raped her. Atticus establishes that Robinson could not have caused the injuries to her face because he had no use of his left arm and the injuries were done by a left-handed person.
When Mr. Gilmer asks Tom Robinson if Mr. Ewell ran him off, Robinson responds that he “didn’t stay long enough” for Ewell...
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to run him off. He says he ran because he was scared. Gilmer tries to use that against him.
“If you had a clear conscience, why were you scared?”
“Like I says before, it weren’t safe for any nigger to be in a — fix like that.”
“But you weren’t in a fix — you testified that you were resisting Miss Ewell. Were you so scared that she’d hurt you, you ran, a big buck like you?”
“No suh, I’s scared I’d be in court, just like I am now” (Chapter 19).
Mr. Gilmer tries to take Tom Robinson’s running away as a sign of guilt. He asks him if he was actually afraid of facing the court. Robinson responds that he was “scared I’d hafta face up to what I didn’t do.” Mr. Gilmer calls him impudent. He can’t get Robinson to admit that he raped or assaulted Mayella, because he didn’t.
Dill is sickened by this exchange and has to be removed from the courtroom. He is upset Mr. Gilmer is patronizing Tom Robinson and calling him “boy.” Gilmer focuses on the fact that Robinson is black, and implicitly arguing that should be enough evidence for the jury. In fact, it turns out it is. Despite the fact that there is no evidence, Robinson is convicted.