1869-01-20
Moore County, NC
Alleged offense: Rape
Race: Black
Gender: Female (2), Unrecorded (4)
Age: Unrecorded, but includes 5 children
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): Unrecorded
Legal intervention (following lynching): Yes
Mob size: Unrecorded
Mob members: Graham; Riddle (Klan)
Alleged victim: Unrecorded
Household Status: Unrecorded (wife and children of Daniel Blue)
Occupation: Unrecorded
In January, 1869, Daniel Blue testified against Ku Klux Klan members implicated in the burning of a former slave’s house. In retaliation, a group of Klansmen broke into Blue’s home and shot and killed his pregnant wife. They set the house on fire, killing five of Blue’s children. Blue escaped with three children. Authorities charged two men, identified only as Graham and Riddle, for the murders.
Documentation
Death certificate: None found
Census: None found
News coverage:
A Proclamation, By His Excellency, the Governor of North-Carolina
Location
Town: Unrecorded, North Carolina
Latitude/Longitude: 35.367755,-79.470336
Rationale: A marker was placed at the county center as this lynching was reported in newspapers, yet few accounts named any community other than Moore County.
Additional Resources:
Bluecoats and Tar Heels: The Transition from War to Peace in North Carolina
Researcher’s Note:
The date of this lynching is not exact as many accounts of the murders cite either January or February as month. A date of Jan 1 1870 has been put in to meet this data system’s standards.