Lynchings in Maryland

Thomas, a laborer, husband and father of three, was accused of killing William Butler, a white man, by hitting him with “a heavy musket,” causing “gruesome injuries” and death. Thomas purportedly confessed when he was arrested, but he pled not guilty at his trial. He was convicted of second-degree murder; a mob of white men dissatisfied with his sentence (16 years, 7 months) removed him from his cell and hanged him from a plank.

After the 8-year-old daughter of a state delegate from Caroline County was found dead in the woods, Wilson was “arrested on suspicion” and taken to the body, where he reportedly confessed. After the Easton Gazette editorialized that “the worst penalty that the law can inflict is too good for the scoundrel,” a mob of 300 formed outside the jail, used an ax to enter Wilson’s cell, hanged him, shot him, then hanged his body again at a nearby African-American church.

Pippin, who was white, had been accused with an accomplice, James McGinnis, of killing a merchant in Queen Anne’s County. After McGinnis was convicted of the crime and Pippin was acquitted, a mob of 20 people found Pippin hiding under the floorboards at his father’s home near Church Hill, dragged him a mile away and hanged him from a small oak tree. The Denton Union later reported that “a number of the citizens of that place and vicinity” notified Pippin’s father, Asa, “to leave within nine days or he, too, would swing” – and that Asa later “left the town, bag and baggage.”

The Aegis reported that Moore and an accomplice attacked the daughter of “a highly respected citizen” as she walked toward Bel Air, “knocked her down, dragged her into the bushes, and attempted to violate her person.” As the sheriff tried to transfer Moore to jail, a mob jumped them, dragged Moore to the assault site, stripped him and hanged him from a tree. Moore, it was later reported, had been convicted of an earlier rape in 1861, when he was a slave, and banished from the state under “slave code” laws. He had returned a free man after Maryland emancipated its enslaved people in 1864.

The victim was murdered for unknown reasons. The only reference to his death is mentioned in a newspaper account of other lynchings.

The only known account of this incident is a letter published in the Philadelphia Age, then reprinted in The New York Times. It reported that “Jim Quinn (colored) … was seized by the people and hanged” while “in custody of Baltimore County officers” at “Whitehall Station, on the North Central Road.” He stood accused of a “brutal outrage” against a 65-year-old woman named Miss Reip.

The Maryland State Archives was long aware of this lynching, but the victim’s identity was a mystery until 2016, when students working on a research project at Bowie State University under Professor Nicholas Creary found a death certificate matching the date, site and circumstances of the incident. The certificate, signed by then-county coroner R. Walter Brooks, identified the victim as Thomas Jurick.

After Jones was arrested on suspicion of arson, a judge charged a local farmer with delivering him to jail in Elkton, but Jones never arrived. The farmer, James Merritt, told police Jones had been captured and taken away en route. The sheriff found “the body of the colored man Jones hanging to a small hickory tree” at the alleged place of capture. An inquest ruled Jones “came to his death by hanging at the hands of persons unknown.”

Scott, a worker at Notley Hill estate, was “greatly respected by all persons, white and colored,” according to The Sun. He was invited to spend the night in the home of the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, one night when Mr. Nelson was away. A scuffle ensued in which Scott was shot; the next morning, Mrs. Nelson accused him of rape. A local man deputized to transport Scott to jail handed him over to a mob.

After he was accused of assaulting a young white woman near Odenton, several papers described Simms in typically one-sided, incendiary fashion. The New York Herald called him “the Piney Woods monster” and “the black fiend,” reporting outright that “the brute” had “awaited the young girl by a watering hole, coolly asked her for a drink of water, then ravaged her.” A masked mob of 28 removed Simms, in leg irons, from his cell, placed him in a railroad handcar, rode him outside Annapolis, and lynched him. “Large numbers of citizens” came by to view the body.

Accused of assaulting a white woman, “Mike Green, colored,” as The Sun described him, was in jail in Upper Marlboro when a band of masked men forced their way in. He fought for his life as they adjusted a rope around his neck. They took Green north of town and hanged him from a cherry tree. The Sun equivocated about the lynching, calling his “crime” one “of an unusually aggrieved character.”

An 1889 article in The Frederick News on the history of lynchings in Frederick County is the only known reference to this lynching. The paper reported that he was killed for “an outrage” on a female at Licksville (now a community known as Tuscarora) in southern Frederick County.

Peck had tried to assault “a young and pretty white girl,” according to The Sun, but was foiled before achieving “his fiendish purpose.” As a constable transported him toward jail, they made a sudden stop at a store in Poolesville. There a shot rang out, about 30 men materialized and swarmed the store, and the mob hanged the prisoner as he begged for mercy. “His entreaties were of no avail with these stern and determined men,” The Sun reported.

Accused of raping a 12-year-old white girl, Mary Morman, in Loudon County, Va., Wallace escaped across the Potomac River into Frederick County, where he was later captured at a tavern, reportedly as he bragged about the crime. A sheriff was escorting him back to Virginia by ferry when 150 masked men — and the girl — swarmed them on the Virginia side of the river. After they hanged Wallace at the scene of the alleged assault, Morman was invited to fire the first shot into his body. “This she did with good aim,” the Richmond Dispatch reported.

The lynching is mentioned in “Maryland’s Lynching Record,” a brochure by A. Briscoe Koger, a mid-20th century amateur historian of black life in the state. The work is among the Koger Papers at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in St. Leonard, Calvert County.

After being arrested for a minor robbery, Briscoe irritated a judge and several onlookers by “displaying bravado” in court, speaking defiantly and objecting to his treatment at the hands of two deputies. As those deputies escorted him from Jacobsville toward the Annapolis jail, “more than a score of men” swarmed the party near the Magothy River, seized Briscoe and hanged him in a tree. A local African-American minister, the Rev. William P. Ryder, decried the lynching from the pulpit 10 days later.

Brown, a teacher and itinerant preacher who was “looked up to as a representative colored man,” according to the Baltimore American, was accused of miscegenation for allegedly marrying Fannie Schultz, a “pretty blonde girl with blue eyes and a simple manner.” Reports out of “the wildest part of Howard County” were he had wed Schultz near “Clarkesville,” that “the neighborhood was aroused,” and that a mob of 13 had overpowered and hanged Brown. The Sun and the American reported two days later that Brown was actually still “alive and kicking.”

Snowden, who was black, was in the Ellicott City jail for allegedly assaulting Alberta Fischer, a 10-year-old African-American girl. A crowd of about 25 people, most of them African-American, gained entry to the building by telling the warden they were delivering a prisoner, then broke into Snowden’s cell, hauled him through an African-American neighborhood to a farm just outside town, and hanged him from an oak tree. The Sun reported that 500 people viewed the body before it was cut down, and that the girl’s father approved of the lynching.

Cook, described as “stout and strong, with a light complexion and heavy features,” stood accused of assaulting Mrs. Carrie Knott of Mt. Airy as her husband worked on a nearby farm. Mrs. Knott claimed she tried to give Cook a drink of water when he clubbed and subdued her, and she woke up to realize she had been raped. About 40 masked men overpowered Sheriff George Shower at the Carroll County jail, threw Cook into a wagon, drove him to a farm, and hanged him. “Half of the town, some on horseback, many on foot and not a few driving substantial teams” went to the scene of the lynching, The Sun reported. There was no investigation of the killing.

Cooper stood accused of assaulting the daughter of a prominent farmer as she walked home from the Towson train station on Falls Road. After an all-white jury took less than a minute to find him guilty, and a judge sentenced him to death, a group of black activists in Baltimore raised money for an appeal on the grounds his civil rights had been violated. A mob of more than 70 men found him hiding under his mattress in his cell in the old Towson jail, removed him and hanged him on the property. The next morning, the engineer of a passing train slowed down so his passengers could get a better look at the body.

Described by The Sun as “a bright mulatto boy of 18 or 20,” and a trusted cook for the family of the Rev. L.M. Lyle, Whitley was arrested for allegedly trying to molest the Lyles’ 5-year-old daughter. About 40 armed masked men overpowered the guards at the jail where he was held, took him a mile outside of town, and hanged him as he “begged piteously for his life.” A jury of inquest found Whitley was hung by “persons unknown to the jury,” but in a rare development, it also charged a James W. Lyons with aiding and abetting a lynching. No records of a penalty have been found.

Johnson, a white man many viewed as mentally ill, was charged with the murder of Edward White, a white railroad worker and father who was widely respected in the community. A lynch mob broke into the local lockup, seized Johnson and hanged him from a bridge over George’s Creek. A newspaper later reported that a Michael Malone was jailed for manslaughter in connection with the event — which, if true, would have marked the only conviction for a lynching in Maryland.

Hance had been jailed for allegedly trying to assault Alice Bailey, the daughter of the local sheriff, as she walked along a road toward Stone’s Wharf. Two weeks later, a mob entered the jail by claiming they had a prisoner to hand over, then removed Hance from his cell, took him to the outskirts of town, and hanged him. When a jury of inquest was held to investigate, several witnesses testified they had heard the voice of Sheriff Bailey, Alice’s father, among the lynchers. No record of an outcome to the inquest has been found, but one newspaper reported that “many citizens of Maryland” believed Bailey’s participation had been covered up.

After he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a white woman, “emotions stirred among the white community, and tensions flared between blacks and whites,” according to a report in the (Frederick) Daily News. A white mob broke into the city jail, removed Biggus, took him to a farm outside town and, using a rope later said to have been donated by the fire department, hanged him. “The members of the colored population have been very fierce today in their threats against the white people,” the Daily News reported the next day. “A great deal of foolish incendiary talk has been indulged in by them.”

One day after unknown parties set fire to the home of the Vermillions, an African-American family, several tobacco barns and other buildings in the area were burned. Police arrested Joseph — a man of “extraordinary courage,” The Sun reported — on suspicion of arson. A week later, a mob overpowered the jailkeeper at the local jail, removed Vermillion, dragged him through town, and hanged him, his legs still shackled, from an iron bridge. He was buried at the jailhouse next to Michael Green, who was lynched there 14 years earlier.

Green, a trusted laborer for the Tolson family, was charged with raping Mary Ann Tolson — described by The Sun as “a good-looking woman, of medium size, dark eyes, black hair and fair complexion” — while her husband was away. The judge at trial sentenced him to 21 years in prison rather than death because he believed Mrs. Tolson might have identified the wrong man. An outraged mob removed him from jail and lynched him. Kent Island’s African-American community refused to bury the body, forcing police to do so.

After Taylor, an employee of a Mr. John Silcox, was accused of sexually assaulting Silcox’s 11-year-old daughter, outrage in the community was so great that Sheriff Plummer had him conveyed across the Chesapeake Bay for his own safety. By the time he was returned to Chestertown, a mob of about 1,000 people had gathered. Some in the crowd entered the jail by sledgehammer, and Taylor was hanged from a tree outside the city limits — reportedly by agreement with city officials.

Kemp, a berry picker from Virginia, allegedly took part in a drunken brawl in which a group of African-American men attacked two white police officers, leaving one stabbed to death. Kemp was one of 10 men jailed in Princess Anne for the incident when a group of more than 100 masked men talked their way inside and, believing Kemp was the ringleader, fired 50 shots into the cell where he was shackled, killing him. Deputy Dryden had the other nine transferred to Salisbury, where a group of local African-Americans took up arms to defend them against a gathering white mob, and eventually to Baltimore.

Williams was accused of assaulting a Mrs. Katie Hardesty in her bed as her husband, Albert, conducted business in town; according to newspaper accounts, only the barking of the family dog — and the screaming of the Hardestys’ young daughter — stopped the attack. A mob took more than an hour battering the lock to the Upper Marlboro jail, seized Williams, and hanged him from the same iron bridge where Joe Vermillion was lynched five years before.

Bowens, described in the Frederick News as “a 23-year-old colored man of bad reputation,” reportedly tried to rape “Miss Lilly Long, a comely white woman of 22.” A mob took him from the Frederick jail to the same Jefferson Heights farm where John Biggus had been killed in 1887, and hanged him from a locust tree. The News decried the act, adding that “the Frederick lynchers deserve credit for one thing, at least. They did not try to emulate the example of the Texans, who burn black ravishers and butcher them.”

Henson, a store clerk, was arrested and charged with killing his white employer, Daniel F. Shea, with a hatchet. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but was convicted and sentenced to death. A mob of white men, unhappy to learn that he planned to appeal to the governor for clemency, seized Henson from jail, marched him to nearby Merrick’s Lane and hanged him. A placard left under the body read, “Governor [Frank] Brown forced the law-abiding citizens to carry out the verdict of the jury.”

After 14-year-old Sallie Dean was found dead beside the path she normally took to school, authorities interrogated several black suspects in the belief that “only a brutal Negro” could commit such a crime. Suspicion eventually fell on Price, a white man who showed inordinate interest in the case. Price spent months trying to pin the murder on a local teacher but was convicted and sentenced to death at trial. A mob extracted him from the Denton jail and hanged him.

Cocking, a white English immigrant and naturalized citizen, was a highly respected community member, but when his wife, Fannie, and his18-year-old sister-in-law, Daisy, were found hacked to death in the family home, public opinion changed. The local press, Baltimore Sun and local law enforcement openly suggested his guilt, rumors of a lynching spread, and after a judge moved Cocking’s trial to another county and delayed it, an outraged mob broke into the old Port Tobacco jail and lynched Cocking. Newspapers pinned blame on the slow pace of the justice system.

Early on the morning of May 25, someone entered the home of Richard Buxton, a prominent citizen, and attacked his family — including his wife and two daughters, Maude, 16, and Sadie, 7 — with an axe. Mrs. Buxton spied a black man fleeing, and suspicion fell on two men: Randolph, who didn’t know the family, and George Neale, who had once threatened to kill Buxton. After a jury found Randolph guilty (and Neale left town), a mob took him from the Rockville jail at gunpoint and hanged him. He’s buried in an unmarked grave under what is now the Montgomery County Detention Center.

A judge sentenced Andrews, an African-American laborer, to death by hanging after Andrews pleaded guilty to assaulting a Mrs. Benjamin Kelley. A crowd cheered the sentence but was evidently not satisfied: outside the courtroom, a growing mob of about 1,000 tore the prisoner from the hands of deputies, used bats and clubs to beat him nearly to death, then hanged him from a tree. The judge and sheriff organized a jury of inquest, which determined in less than an hour that Andrews had been strangled by a mob of strangers from outside Somerset County.

Charged with fatally shooting Herman Kenny, a young white man, King was taken from the Salisbury city jail and hanged from a tree by a white mob. He fell to the ground, unconscious, when a limb of the tree broke, then got to his feet and tried to escape. The mob captured him, “shot him to pieces,” according to The New York Times, and hanged him again. Days later, a number of black citizens gathered in church to draft a resolution condemning the lynching; it was published in the Salisbury Advertiser.

Smith, a laborer who lived in Baltimore, was accused of assaulting a white woman while her husband, an oysterman named James Morrison, was on his way to Baltimore with his catch. A mob of about 40 broke into the jail where he was being held, reportedly removing him so quietly that the warden did not notice. Smith was gunned down from behind as he ran along Calvert and Northwest streets shouting “murder!” The African-American alderman Wiley H. Bates offered a resolution in the city council condemning the killing, but it drew only two votes.

Charged with assaulting a white woman, Miss Anne McIlvaine, at her home at 4 o’clock one morning, Harris was in the Bel Air jail when a mob of masked men burst in, exchanged gunfire with a sheriff, dragged the prisoner to a nearby yard and hanged him from a poplar tree. An Ohio newspaper reported that McIlvaine led the mob, “disheveled hair flying loosely in the driving rain,” and watched “with relentless eyes” as he fought for his life; the Washington Star reported she was not present. Harris is buried in an unmarked grave in Heavenly Waters cemetery.

Davis, a laborer nicknamed “Toe and Foot” due to his chronic limp, was charged with assaulting a white woman, Mrs. John Reid, at her family’s store near Crownsville. He was awaiting trial when a mob overpowered his guards at the Annapolis jail, removed him, shot him as they dragged him through the streets and hanged him beside College Creek. Mrs. Reid's daughter later read a public statement thanking the mob for getting to Davis and ensuring that her mother would not have to face him in court.

After police arrested a man named Hildred for selling whiskey, Hildred’s business partner, the African-American laborer James Reed, reportedly shot and killed the chief of police, James Daugherty, as he escorted Hildred to jail. Reed tried to escape in a stolen mail boat but was apprehended at sea. When he was returned to town, a mob fell on him, beat him, hanged him from a pole, buried his body in a marsh, then dug it up again and abused it further. The town council issued a statement in support of the lynching.

Burns, an African-American laborer, was drinking in a local bar when a city police officer, August Baker, arrested him for causing a disturbance. Burns reportedly shot Baker during the arrest, and when Baker later died of his wounds, a mob of up to 2,000 people battered their way into the jail, removed Burns and shot him to death as he cursed them. No police officers reported to the lynching. Benjamin Richmond, a witness who was a friend of Gov. Lloyd Lowndes, reported that he saw several prominent men of the city in the mob, but a grand jury found that no lyncher could be identified.

This lynching is mentioned only once, in the writings of Briscoe A. Koger, an amateur historian of black life in Maryland. No further details are available.

Johnson, an African-American chemical company employee, was arrested for allegedly shooting a white blacksmith, Frederick Schwab, during an argument over a pool game. Chief Irwin of the Anne Arundel County police left no guards on duty in the Brooklyn jail the night of the shooting, and eight masked men forcibly seized Johnson from his cell, dragged him downstairs and onto Second Avenue, and shot him to death. A subsequent inquiry criticized county police for its lax protection of prisoners but failed to identify any of the lynchers.

Williams, a well-liked black laborer, was meeting with his employer, D.J. Elliott, when gunfire erupted, killing Elliott, wounding his son, James Elliott, and severely injuring Williams. Accounts varied over who shot whom, but blame fell on Williams. A mob that swelled to 2,000 people removed Williams — his eyes covered in bandages — from the hospital “Negro ward,” dragged him behind a car and hanged him beside the Wicomico County courthouse. Sun columnist H.L. Mencken ripped Eastern Shore police, journalists and citizens over the state’s first lynching in two decades, triggering an avalanche of threats and hate mail to The Sun and sparking boycotts of the newspaper in the region.

According to the Equal Justice Initiative, the body of a second victim of the white mob that killed Matthew Williams was found nearby two days later – a man who weighed about 160 pounds and was dressed in a brown khaki shirt and blood-soaked overalls. Damage to his face left him unrecognizable. Police found bacon and half a ham wrapped in brown paper nearby, suggesting he was on his way home from the grocery store when attacked.

Accused of assaulting a 71-year-old white woman, Armwood was jailed first in Salisbury, then in Baltimore, for his own safety. He was later returned to the Princess Anne jail after a local judge assured Gov. Albert Ritchie that he would be well guarded. That afternoon, an angry mob that would grow to include about 2,000 people formed outside the jail, forced its way in, and tortured Armwood before hanging him and incinerating his body. Though state police officers identified nine men as leaders of the mob, a local grand jury declined to issue indictments, and local rioters later clashed with National Guardsmen seeking to arrest lynchers. Four men went to trial for the murder, but a jury dismissed all charges.