1881-12-01
Granville County, NC
Alleged offense: Murder
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Age: 25 (Brodie); Unrecorded (Hester)
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): Yes
Legal intervention (following lynching): Yes
Mob size: 50-100
Mob members: Unrecorded
Alleged victim: T. M. Lynch
Household Status: Unrecorded
Occupation: Unrecorded
John Brodie and Shadrack Hester allegedly murdered T. M. Lynch about a week prior to their lynching. Law enforcement soon arrested the pair and confined them to the Granville County jail, where they resided until a mob numbering between 50 and 100 men arrived on Thursday, December 1st, 1881 demanding the jailer surrender the prisoners. Although at first he attempted to refuse, the jailer brought the mob to the jail where the guards were forced into the guardhouse and held at gunpoint. The mob then proceeded to knock out the lights of the jail and abduct Brodie and Hester from their cells. When the mob reached the site of the murder, they hanged John Brodie and Shadrack Hester to two trees about twenty feet apart. It is said that they confessed prior to their deaths. The next day a crowd of people gathered around their bodies and a coroner held an inquest after cutting them down.
Documentation
Death certificate: None found
Census: Brodie Census
News coverage:
Location
Town: Oxford, North Carolina
Latitude/Longitude: 36.310617, -78.591110
Rationale: “Fifty yards from the spot where the murder was committed.” Nearest town.
Additional Resources:
Researcher’s Note: