1900-03-22
Moore County, NC

Alleged offense: None
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Age: 32
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): No
Legal intervention (following lynching): No
Mob size: 4
Mob members: Unrecorded
Alleged victim: N/A
Household Status: Married with children
Occupation: Farm laborer

On March 22 1900, four masked men showed up at the door of George Ritter, an African American man, and took him from his home for “some questions.” The next morning, Ritter was found hanging near his home, his body having been “barbarously tortured.” Reports at the time speculated that Ritter had been murdered by moonshiners, about whose activity Ritter had informed local authorities.

Documentation

Death certificate: None found
Census: 1880 Census

News coverage:

Lynched By Moonshiners

A Negro Tortured to Death in Moore

A Murder Near Carthage

Raleigh Post: George Ritter, colored

Lynched An Alleged Informer

Tortured By Moonshiners

Location

Town: Carthage, North Carolina
Latitude/Longitude: 35.324182, -79.298275
Rationale:  Estimated location of abduction and lynching based on reports that location was roughly 7 miles from Carthage on the side Fayetteville side of the town.

Additional Resources: Grave site: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/183588368

Researcher’s Note: Alleged crime is listed as “Racially motivated (no alleged crime)” because Ritter was accused of disclosing information about illegal activity, which is not a crime. George Ritter could be found in the 1870 and 1880 census, but no more recent census could be found.