1905-08-27
Craven County, NC

Alleged offense: Assault
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Age: Unrecorded
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): Yes
Legal intervention (following lynching): No
Mob size: 50
Mob members: Clem Wright, also named as John Wright; W.D. Wright
Alleged victim: Mrs. Eubanks
Household Status: Unrecorded
Occupation: Unrecorded

John Moore, said to be a “tramp,” assaulted the wife of New Bern Postmaster George Eubanks during an attempted robbery. Moore was saved from Eubanks’s efforts at vengeance by Eubanks’s neighbors, who brought Moore to the Craven County jail. But when a judge set Moore’s bond at just $300, the same men who had saved his life became enraged, and with Eubanks himself, abducted Moore from the jail, holding the Craven County sheriff and jailer at gunpoint. The mob hanged Moore from an iron cross piece on the Neuse Bridge and then riddled his body with bullets. “The generalship was perfect,” reported The North Carolinian. The paper reported both that many residents of New Bern condemned the lynching, criticizing the sheriff for neglecting to adequately guard the jail; the same article reports general approbation for the mob’s actions, including among the African American population. The coroner’s jury reported that Unrecorded persons committed the act, and Governor Glenn called for an investigation noting that the sheriff and his deputy undoubtedly knew the names of those involved. Yet later that week one man was arrested for his participation in the lynching, and was said to have possession of a piece of the rope used to hang Moore. Press coverage indicates Wright made the mistake of getting drunk in nearby Kinston and boasting of his leadership in the lynching. Wright was tried before Superior Court in November and released.

Documentation

Death certificate: None found
Census: None found

News coverage:

The Neuse Sees A Deed Of Horror

Lynching at New Bern

More Trouble with Negroes at Craven

Alleged Lyncher Caught

Court Differed Although Evidence Proved Wright Had Alibi

To Reform the People’s Courts

Brief Mention of Wright’s Release

Location

Town: New Bern, North Carolina
Latitude/Longitude: 35.125249, -77.053966
Rationale: 

Additional Resources:

Researcher’s Note: