Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States

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Foreword

Until the recent outbreaks in Germany, where, under revolutionary conditions, a few lynchings have taken place, the United States has for long been the only advanced nation whose government has tolerated lynching. The facts are well known to students of public affairs. It is high time that they became the common property, since they are the common shame, of all Americans.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, within the limits of its financial resources, has been carrying on an educational and publicity campaign in the public press, through its own pamphlet publications and the columns of The Crisis, and through public meetings, to bring home to the American people their responsibility for the persistence of this monstrous blot upon America’s honor. Lynching has had, and to some degree still has, its apologists, who have alleged one and another excuse for it in given cases. But, none of the several pleas which has been made to explain or excuse it can stand the light of reason or find the slightest real justification in a nation governed by law, which has found ample means to cope with lawlessness whenever and wherever the public authorities have taken seriously their oaths of office.

On July 26, 1918, when the nation was at war with the Central Powers, President Wilson appealed to “the governors of all the states, the law officers of every community and, above all, the men and women of every community in the United States, all who revere America and wish to keep her name without stain or reproach, to cooperate, not passively merely, but actively and watchfully, to make an end of this disgraceful evil,” saying, “It cannot live where the community does not countenance it.”

Despite President Wilson’s earnest appeal, made under such extraordinary circumstances, lynchings continued during the remaining period of the war with unabated fury. Sixty-three Negroes, five of them women, and four white men fell victims to mob ruthlessness during 1918 and in no case was any member of the mobs convicted in any court and in only two instances were trials held. In both of these instances the mob members were acquitted. One case was that of the lynchers of the white man, Robert P. Praeger, in Illinois, the other that of the lynchers of a Negro, Will Bird, in Alabama.

The present publication, “Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, 1889–1918,” sums up the facts for this period. It is believed that more persons have been lynched than those whose names are given in Appendix II following. Only such cases have been included as were authenticated by such evidence as was given credence by a recognized newspaper or confirmed by a responsible investigator.

In presenting this material we have refrained from editorial comment, restricting our text to a brief summary of the facts which are more fully illustrated in the tables printed in Appendix I. In addition to the two appendices named, and to the summary of the facts disclosed in the tables, we have included a short summary of the actual happenings in the cases of one hundred persons lynched, as taken from press accounts and, in a few cases, from the reports of our own investigators. These data appear under the heading, The Story of One Hundred Lynchings.

Acknowledgment is made to Miss Martha Gruening and to Miss Helen Boardman, who assisted her, for work done in examining the files of leading newspapers and other records for a period of thirty years and in compiling data from which The Story of One Hundred Lynchings has been taken.

John R. Shillady, Secretary.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Summation of the Facts Disclosed in Tables

More or less accurate records of lynchings have been kept by the Chicago Tribune, Tuskegee Institute and, since 1912, The Crisis and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. These records go back to 1885. In the present study of the subject, we have confined ourselves to the story of the past thirty years, from 1889 to 1918 inclusive. During these years 3,224 persons have been killed by lynching mobs. Seven hundred and two white persons and 2,522 Negroes have been victims. Of the whites lynched, 691 have been men and 11 women; of the colored, 2,472 were men and 50 were women. For the whole period, 78.2 per cent, of the victims were Negroes and 21.8 per cent, white persons.

Distribution of the Lynchings

For the thirty years’ period as a whole, the North has had 219 victims, the South, 2,834, the West, 156, and Alaska and unknown localities, 15 victims. An examination of Table No. 3 will show that the eight South Atlantic States are responsible for 862 of the total of 2,834 for the South as a whole; the four East South Central States have had 1,014 victims, and the four West South Central States 958. Georgia leads in this unholy ascendancy with 386 victims, followed closely by Mississippi with 373 victims, Texas with 335, Louisiana with 313, Alabama with 276, Arkansas with 214, Tennessee with 196, Florida with 178 and Kentucky with 169. The nine states above named are those which, for the thirty years’ period, have each a percentage of the total number of lynchings in excess of five per cent.

Fifty colored women and 11 white women were lynched in 14 states. Thirteen of the 14 states in which women fell victims to mobs were Southern states, Nebraska being the only state outside the South which lynched women.…

While in all sections of the country there has been a progressive decrease in the number of lynchings at each of the five years’ periods, this decrease in the North and West has far outrun the decrease in the South. The North and West together have lynched 21 persons during the last five years’ period, whereas during the same time 304 persons were lynched in the South.

Georgia began the first five years’ period with 61 lynchings and ended the last five years’ period with exactly the same number. This number, by the way, was the lowest, with one exception, which Georgia reached during the thirty years. Alabama, on the contrary, began with 84, a number one-third greater than Georgia’s, which had been reduced during the last five years’ period to 19. Mississippi began with 91 for the first period and ended with 28 in the latter five years’ period. Georgia and Texas alone, of all the states, have made no proportionate decrease in the number of lynchings during the thirty years’ period. Texas shows an increase during the last five years over her record for three preceding five years’ periods.

In considering these facts it should be borne in mind that the number of lynchings has steadily been decreasing. When, therefore. Georgia and Texas show no decrease in the former state and only a small decrease in the latter state, it means that relative to the country as a whole, lynchings have been on the increase in these two states.

Decrease in Lynching during Past Thirty Years

Table No. 8 shows the percentage of decrease in the number of persons lynched during each five years’ period. Comparing the five years, 1914–1918, with the five years, 1889–1893, the table shows a decrease of 61.3 per cent, in the total number of persons lynched. The percentage of decrease in the number of whites lynched was 77.6 and of colored, 54.4. Since 1903 the number of whites lynched has been decreasing steadily. The increase for the period 1914–1918 to 61 white persons lynched is largely accounted for by the fact that in 1915, 43 whites were lynched. Twenty-seven of these were Mexicans who were lynched in the state of Texas. Many citizens of Texas look upon Mexicans in somewhat the same way as they look upon Negroes (alas for democracy), so that the lynching of this number of Mexicans would not be regarded by them in the same light as would the lynching of so many white Texans or other white citizens of the United States.

Except in 1915 and in 1909 and 1910, the number of whites lynched in any year since 1903 has been less than ten. The percentage of whites lynched in the first ten years’ period of our study was 30 per cent; in the second ten years’ period, 12.4 per cent, and in the third ten years’ period, 15 per cent.

Alleged Offenses which Appear as “Causes” for the Lynchings

Table No. 6 sums up the known facts regarding the alleged offenses committed by the men and women lynched. It is to be remembered that the alleged offenses given are pretty loose descriptions of the crimes charged against the mob victims, where actual crime was committed. Of the whites lynched, nearly 46 per cent were accused of murder; a little more than 18 per cent were accused of what have been classified as miscellaneous crimes, i.e., all crimes not otherwise classified; 17.4 per cent were said to have committed crimes against property; 8.7 per cent crimes against the person, other than rape, “attacks upon women,” and murder; while 8.4 per cent were accused of rape and “attacks upon women.”

Among colored victims, 35.8 per cent were accused of murder; 28.4 per cent of rape and “attacks upon women” (19 per cent of rape and 9.4 per cent of “attacks upon women”); 17.8 per cent of crimes against the person (other than those already mentioned) and against property; 12 per cent were charged with miscellaneous crimes and in 5.6 per cent of cases no crime at all was charged. The 5.6 per cent, classified under “Absence of Crime” does not include a number of cases in which crime was alleged but in which it was afterwards shown conclusively that no crime had been committed. Further, it may fairly be pointed out that in a number of cases where Negroes have been lynched for rape and “attacks upon white women,” the alleged attacks rest upon no stronger evidence than “entering the room of a woman” or brushing against her. In such cases as these latter the victims and their friends have often asserted that there was no intention on the part of the victim to attack a white woman or to commit rape. In many cases, of course, the evidence points to bona fide attacks upon women.

An examination of Table No. 7 shows that the decreases in succeeding five years’ periods in the number of victims charged with rape and “attacks upon women” have been more pronounced than for any other alleged cause.…

It is apparent that lynchings of Negroes for other causes than the so-called “one crime” have for the whole period been a large majority of all lynchings and that for the past five years, less than one in five of the colored victims have been accused of rape or “attacks upon women” (rape, 11 per cent; attacks upon women, 8.8 per cent; total, 19.8 per cent).

The Story of One Hundred Lynchings

To give concreteness and to make vivid the facts of lynching in the United States, we give below in chronological order an account of one hundred lynchings which have occurred in the period from 1894 to 1918. These “stories,” as they are technically described in newspaper parlance, have been taken from press accounts and, in a few cases, from the reports of investigations made by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Covering twenty-five years of American history, these accounts serve to present a characteristic picture of the lynching sport, as it was picturesquely defined by Henry Watterson.

The last of the “stories” describes one of the rare events in connection with lynchings, that of the conviction of members of a mob involved in such affairs. In this case no lynching was consummated, it having been prevented by the prompt and public-spirited action of the mayor of the city (Winston-Salem, North Carolina), and members of the “Home Guard” and Federal troops who defended the jail against a mob.

Alabama, 1894

Three Negroes, Tom Black, Johnson Williams and Tony Johnston, were lynched at Tuscumbia, Alabama. They were in the local jail, awaiting trial on the charge of having burnt a barn. A mob of two hundred masked men entered the jail. after having enticed away the jailer with a false message, took the keys from the jailer’s wife and secured the three prisoners. They were carried to a near-by bridge. Here a rope was placed around the neck of each victim, the other end being tied to the timbers of the bridge, and they were compelled to jump.

New York Tribune, April 23, 1894.…

Texas, 1897

Robert Henson Hilliard, a Negro, for a murder to which he confessed and for alleged rape, was burned to death by a mob at Tyler, Texas. Hilliard confessed the murder but stated that he killed his victim because he had unwittingly frightened her and feared that he would be killed.

A report of the crime and its punishment was written by an eye-witness and printed by a local publishing house. It ended as follows:

“Note: Hilliard’s power of endurance was the most wonderful thing on record. His lower limbs burned off before he became unconscious and his body looked to be burned to the hollow. Was it decreed by an avenging God as well as an avenging people that his sufferings should be prolonged beyond the ordinary endurance of mortals?”

The End

“We have sixteen large views under powerful magnifying lenses now on exhibition. These views are true to life and show the Negro’s attack, the scuffle, the murder, the body as found, etc. With eight views of the trial and burning. For place of exhibit see street bills. Don’t fail to see this.”

Breckenridge-Scruggs Co.

No indictments were found against any of the mob’s members.

Georgia, 1899

Sam Hose, a Negro farm laborer, was accused of murdering his employer in a quarrel over wages. He escaped. Several days later, while he was being bunted unsuccessfully, the charge was added that he raped his employer’s wife. He confessed the murder, but refused, even under duress, to confess the other crime.

The following account of the lynching is taken from the New York Tribune for April 24, 1899.

“In the presence of nearly 2,000 people, who sent aloft yells of defiance and shouts of joy, Sam Hose (a Negro who committed two of the basest acts known to crime) was burned at the stake in a public road, one and a half miles from here. Before the torch was applied to the pyre, the Negro was deprived of his ears, fingers and other portions of his body with surprising fortitude. Before the body was cool, it was cut to pieces, the bones were crushed into small bits and even the tree upon which the wretch met his fate was torn up and disposed of as souvenirs.”

“The Negro’s heart was cut in several pieces, as was also his liver. Those unable to obtain the ghastly relics directly, paid more fortunate possessors extravagant sums for them. Small pieces of bone went for 25 cents and a bit of the liver, crisply cooked, for 10 cents.”

No indictments were ever found against any of the lynchers.…

Tennessee, 1901

Ballie Crutchfield, a colored woman, was lynched by a mob at Rome, Tennessee, because her brother stole a purse.

The mob took Crutchfield from the custody of the sheriff, and started with him for the place of execution, when he broke from them and escaped.

“This,” says the despatch, “so enraged the mob, that they suspected Crutchfield’s sister of being implicated in the theft and last night’s work was the culmination of that suspicion.”

The Coroner’s jury found the usual verdict that the woman came to her death at the hands of parties unknown.

New York Tribune, March 16, 1901.

Louisiana, 1901

Louis Thomas, at Girard, La., a Negro, broke into a local store and stole six bottles of soda-pop. He was later found by a white man named Brown, disposing of its contents, and on being accused of theft, struck his accuser. Brown procured a rifle and shot the Negro twice through the body, but as neither wound proved fatal, a mob of white men took the Negro from the house where he lay wounded and strung him up.

New York Tribune, July 16, 1901.…

Delaware, 1903

George White, a Negro, accused of rape and murder, was taken out of jail at Wilmington, Del., dragged to the scene of his alleged crime and forced to confess. He was tied to a stake, burned and riddled with bullets, even as he was being burned. The Chamber of Commerce of Wilmington, which met a few days later, refused to pass a resolution condemning the lynching but passed one against forest fires.

New York Tribune, June 23, 24, 1903.…

Mississippi, 1904

Luther Holbert, a Doddsville Negro, and his wife were burned at the stake for the murder of James Eastland, a white planter, and John Carr, a Negro, The planter was killed in a quarrel which arose when he came to Carr’s cabin, where he found Holbert, and ordered him to leave the plantation. Carr and a Negro, named Winters, were also killed.

Holbert and his wife fled the plantation but were brought back and burned at the stake in the presence of a thousand people. Two innocent Negros had been shot previous to this by a posse looking for Holbert, because one of them, who resembled Holbert, refused to surrender when ordered to do so. There is nothing in the story to indicate that Holbert’s wife had any part in the crime.

New York Tribune, February 8, 1904.…

Georgia, 1904

For the brutal murder of a white family (the Hodges family) at Statesboro’, Georgia, two Negroes, Paul Reed and Will Cato, were burned alive in the presence of a large crowd. They had been duly convicted and sentenced, when the mob broke into the courtroom and carried them away, in spite of the plea of a brother of the murdered man, who was present in the court, that the law be allowed to take its course. None of the lynchers were ever indicted.

Ray Stannard Baker, “Following the Color Line,” Chicago Tribune, December 31, 1904.

Georgia, 1904

Because of the race prejudice growing out of the Hodges murder by Reed and Cato and their lynching, Albert Roger and his son were lynched at Statesboro’, Ga., August 17, for being Negroes. A number of other Negroes were whipped for no other offense.

Ray Stannard Baker, “Following the Color Line,” Chicago Tribune, December 31, 1904.

Georgia, 1904

On account of the race riots which grew out of the above murder (Hodges) and lynching, McBride, a respectable Negro of Portal, Ga., was beaten, kicked and shot to death for trying to defend his wife, who was confined with a baby, three days old, from a whipping at the hands of a crowd of white men.

Ray Stannard Baker, “Following the Color Line,” Chicago Tribune, December 31, 1904.…

Louisiana, 1906

For the crime of killing a white man’s cow, William Carr, a Negro, was killed at Planquemines, Louisiana. The lynching was conducted in a most orderly manner, Carr being taken from the Sheriff without resistance by a mob of thirty masked men, hurried to the nearest railroad bridge and hanged without Ceremony.

Despatch to New York Tribune, March 18, 1906.…

Oklahoma, 1911

At Okemah, Oklahoma, Laura Nelson, a colored woman, accused of murdering a deputy sheriff who had discovered stolen goods in her house, was lynched together with her son, a boy about fifteen. The woman and her son were taken from the jail, dragged about six miles to the Canadian River, and hanged from a bridge. The woman was raped by members of the mob before she was hanged.

The Crisis, July, 1911.…

South Carolina, 1911

Will Jackson was lynched at Honeapath, S.C., for an alleged attack on a white child. He was hanged to a tree by his feet and his body riddled with bullets. His fingers were cut off for souvenirs. The mob was led by Joshua W. Ashleigh, a local member of the State Legislature, and his son, while Victor B. Chesire, editor of a local newspaper, The Intelligencer, after taking part in the lynching, got out a special edition telling about it in the following words: “ The Intelligencer man went out to see the fun without the least objection to being a party to help lynch the brute.” The then Governor of the State, Cole Blease, absolutely refused to use the power of his office to bring the lynchers to justice, and the Coroner’s jury found that the Negro came to his death “at the hands of parties unknown.”

The Crisis, December, 1911.

Georgia, 1911

Two colored men, Allen and Watts, were lynched in Monroe, Georgia, one for an alleged attack on a white woman, the other for “loitering in a suspicious manner.” Judge Chas. H. Brand ordered Allen brought to Monroe for trial although it was known that the citizens had organized a mob to lynch him. The Judge was offered troops by the Governor to protect the prisoner but refused. Allen was sent to Monroe in charge of two officers. The train was stopped and he was taken off and shot. The mob then proceeded to Monroe where they stormed the jail, took out Watts and hanged and shot him. The same Judge had refused to ask for troops on a previous occasion, saying that he “would not imperil the life of one man to save the lives of a hundred Negroes.”

No indictments were found against the lynchers.

The Crisis, August, 1911.…

Georgia, 1911

T. W. Walker, a colored man of Washington, Ga., killed C. S. Hollinshead, a wealthy planter of the same place. It was stated that there was no apparent cause for the crime, but a Northern colored paper published the charge that Walker killed Hollinshead for attacking his wife and an Atlanta paper reprinted it. A crowd of white men tried to lynch Walker, who had been sentenced to death, but were so drunk that he succeeded in escaping. He was caught and resentenced to instant execution. Before he could be taken from the court room, a brother of Hollinshead shot and severely wounded him. He was then taken out and hanged, the court announcing that the brother would not be prosecuted. The only arrest made in connection with the affair was that of the Negro editor who published the charge against Hollinshead.

The Crisis, January, 1912.…

West Virginia, 1912

In Bluefield, W. Va., September 4, 1912, Robert Johnson was lynched for attempted rape. When he was accused he gave an alibi and proved every statement that he made. He was taken before the girl who had been attacked and she failed to identify him. She had previously described very minutely the clothes her assailant wore. When she failed to identify Johnson in the clothes he had, the Bluefield police dressed him to fit the description and again took him before her. This time she screamed on seeing him, “That’s the man.” Her father had also failed to identify him but now he declared himself positive that he recognized Johnson as the guilty man. Thereupon Johnson was dragged out by a mob, protesting his innocence, and after being severely abused, was hung to a telegraph pole. Later his innocence was conclusively established.

“The Lynching of Robert Johnson,” James Oppenheim in The Independent, October 10, 1912.…

Texas, 1912

Dan Davis, a Negro, was burned at the stake at Tyler, Texas, for the crime of attempted rape, May 25, 1912.

There was some disappointment in the crowd and criticism of those who had bossed the arrangements, because the fire was so slow in reaching the Negro. It was really only ten minutes after the fire was started that smoking shoe soles and twitching of the Negro’s feet indicated that his lower extremities were burning, but the time seemed much longer. The spectators had waited so long to see him tortured that they begrudged the ten minutes before his suffering really began.

The Negro had uttered but few words. When he was led to where he was to be burned he said quite calmly, “I wish some of you gentlemen would be Christian enough to cut my throat,” but nobody responded. When the fire started, he screamed “Lord, have mercy on my soul,” and that was the last word he spoke, though he was conscious for fully twenty minutes after that. His exhibition of nerve aroused the admiration even of his torturers.

A slight hitch in the proceedings occurred when the Negro was about half burned. His clothing had been stripped off and burned to ashes by the flames and his black body hung nude in the gray dawn light. The flesh had been burned from his legs as high as the knees when it was seen that the wood supply was running short. None of the men or boys were willing to miss an incident of the torture. All feared something of more than usual interest might happen, and it would be embarrassing to admit later on not having seen it on account of being absent after more wood.

Something had to be done, however, and a few men from the edge of the crowd, ran after more dry-goods boxes, and by reason of this “public service” gained standing room in the inner circle after having delivered the fuel. Meanwhile the crowd jeered the dying man and uttered shocking comments suggestive of a cannibalistic spirit. Some danced and sang to testify to their enjoyment of the occasion.

Special correspondence of the St. Louis Post-Despatch. The Crisis, June, September, 1912.…

Texas, 1916

Jesse Washington, a defective Negro boy, of about nineteen, unable to read and write, was employed as farm hand in Robinson, a small town near Waco, Texas. One day, the wife of his employer found fault with him, whereupon he struck her on the head with a hammer and killed her. There is some, but not conclusive, evidence that he raped her. He was arrested, tried, found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging within ten days of the commission of the crime. As the sentence was pronounced, a mob of fifteen hundred white men, who feared the law’s delays, broke into the courtroom and seized the prisoner. He was dragged through the streets, stabbed, mutilated and finally burned to death in the presence of a crowd of 15,000 men, women and children. The Mayor and Chief of Police of Waco also witnessed the lynching.

After death what was left of his body was dragged through the streets and parts of it sold as souvenirs. His teeth brought $5 apiece and the chain that had bound him 25 cents a link. No one was ever indicted for participating in the lynching.

Investigation by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.…

Tennessee, 1917

On April 30, Antoinette Rappal, a sixteen-year-old white girl, living on the outskirts of Memphis, disappeared on her way to school. On May third her body was found in a river, her head severed from it. On May 6 a Negro wood chopper, Ell Person, was arrested on suspicion. Under third degree methods he confessed to the crime of murder. The Grand Jury of Shelby County immediately indicted him for murder in the first degree.

The prisoner was taken secretly to the State penitentiary at Nashville. It was known that he would be brought back for trial to Memphis. Each incoming train was searched, and arrangements were made for a lynching.

On May 15 the sheriff disappeared from Memphis. He returned on May 18, announcing that he was informed that several mobs were between Arlington and Memphis. The men were reported to be drinking. “I didn’t want to hurt anybody and I didn’t want to get hurt,” he said, “so I went South into Mississippi.”

The press did nothing to quell the mob spirit, and on May 21 announced that Ell Person would be brought to Memphis that night. Thousands of persons on foot and in automobiles went to the place that had been prepared for the lynching.

With a knowledge of these conditions, Person was brought back from Nashville, guarded only by two deputies. Without difficulty he was taken from the train, placed in an automobile, and driven to the spot prepared for his death.

The Memphis Press reported the lynching in full. We give a few of its statements.

“Fifteen thousand of them—men, women, even little children, and in their midst the black-clothed figure of Antoinette Rappal’s mother—cheered as they poured the gasoline on the axe fiend and struck the match.

“They fought and screamed and crowded to get a glimpse of him, and the mob closed in and struggled about the fire as the flames flared high and the smoke rolled about their heads. Two of them hacked off his ears as he burned; another tried to cut off a toe but they stopped him.

“The Negro lay in the flames, his hands crossed on his chest. If he spoke no one ever heard him over the shouts of the crowd. He died quickly, though fifteen minutes later excitable persons still shouted that he lived when they saw the charred remains move as does meat on a hot frying pan.

“‘They burned him too quick! They burned him too quick!’ was the complaint on all sides.”

Investigation of the burning of Ell Person at Memphis, by James Weldon Johnson. Published by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Tennessee, 1918

Jim McIlherron was prosperous in a small way. He was a Negro who resented the slights and insults of white men. He went armed and the sheriff feared him. On February 8 he got into a quarrel with three young white men who insulted him. Threats were made and McIlherron fired six shots, killing two of the men.

He fled to the home of a colored clergyman who aided him to escape, and was afterwards shot and killed by a mob. McIlherron was captured and full arrangements made for a lynching. Men, women and children started into the town of Estill Springs from a radius of fifty miles. A spot was chosen for the burning. McIlherron was chained to a hickory tree while the mob howled about him. A fire was built a few feet away and the torture began. Bars of iron were heated and the mob amused itself by putting them close to the victim, at first without touching him. One bar he grasped and as it was jerked from his grasp all the inside of his hand came with it. Then the real torturing began, lasting for twenty minutes.

During that time, while his flesh was slowly roasting, the Negro never lost his nerve. He cursed those who tortured him and almost to the last breath derided the attempts of the mob to break his spirit.

Walter F. White, in The Crisis, May, 1918.

Georgia, 1918

Hampton Smith, a white farmer, had the reputation of ill treating his Negro employees. Among those whom he abused was Sidney Johnson, a Negro peon, whose fine of thirty dollars he had paid when he was up before the court for gaming. After having been beaten and abused, the Negro shot and killed Smith as he sat in his window at home. He also shot and wounded Smith’s wife.

For this murder a mob of white men of Georgia for a week, May 17 to 24, engaged in a hunt for the guilty man, and in the meantime lynched the following innocent persons: Will Head, Will Thompson, Hayes Turner, Mary Turner, his wife, for loudly proclaiming her husband’s innocence, Chime Riley and four unidentified Negroes. Mary Turner was pregnant and was hung by her feet. Gasoline was thrown on her clothing and it was set on fire. Her body was cut open and her infant fell to the ground with a little cry, to be crushed to death by the heel of one of the white men present. The mother’s body was then riddled with bullets. The murderer, Sidney Johnson, was at length located in a house at Valdosta.

The house was surrounded by a posse headed by the Chief of Police and Johnson, who was known to be armed, fired until his shot gave out, wounding the Chief. The house was entered and Johnson found dead. His body was mutilated. After the lynching more than 500 Negroes left the vicinity of Valdosta, leaving hundreds of acres of untilled land behind them.

The Lynchings of May, 1918, in Brooks and Lowndes Counties, Georgia, by Walter F. White. Published by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Mississippi, 1918

On Friday night, December 20, 1918, four Negroes, Andrew Clark, age 15; Major Clark, age 20; Maggie Howze, age 20; and Alma Howze, age 16, were taken from the little jail at Shubuta and lynched on a bridge over the Chickasawha River. They were suspected of having murdered a Dr. E. L. Johnston, a dentist.

An investigation disclosed the following facts: That Dr. Johnston was living in illicit relations with Maggie Howze and Alma Howze. That Major Clark, a youth working on Johnston’s plantation wished to marry Maggie. That Dr. Johnston went to Clark and told him to leave his woman alone. That this led to a quarrel, made the more bitter when it was found that Maggie was to have a child by Dr. Johnston; and that the younger sister was also pregnant, said to be by Dr. Johnston.

Shortly after this Johnston was mysteriously murdered. There were two theories as to his death; one that he was killed by Clark, the other that he was killed by a white man who had accused him of seducing a white woman. It was generally admitted that Johnston was a loose character.

Alma Howze was so near to motherhood when lynched that it was said by an eye-witness at her burial on the second day following, that the movements of her unborn child could be detected.

Investigation by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

North Carolina, 1918

Mob Leaders Go To Prison

Realizing that if a lyncher is permitted to remain unpunished the decency of the community is greatly endangered, Judge B. F. Long of the Superior Court sentenced fifteen white men, indicted for participation in a riot in Winston-Salem, Nov. 17, to serve from fourteen months to six years in prison. The men were found guilty of attempting to lynch Russell High, a prisoner in the city jail.

The fifteen men were a part of a mob that for a night and morning terrorized Winston-Salem, and in their efforts to lynch a black man, innocent of the crime of assault for which he had been arrested on suspicion, put life and property in peril and incidentally killed four people, one a little white girl. The Mayor of the city acted with promptitude and courage, railing out the Home Guards and the fire department which played water on the mob. Nearly every policeman was hurt. The Governor rushed troops from Camp Green at Charlotte. For many days cannon guarded the streets. “We don’t mean to be sentimental on this matter,” a prominent business man is quoted as saying, “but we aren’t going to have our city’s good name spoilt by a lynching.”

Condensed from reports of the North Carolina press.