1913-08-26
Mecklenburg County, NC

Alleged offense: Resisting arrest
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Age: Unrecorded
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): Yes
Legal intervention (following lynching): No
Mob size: 35
Mob members: Unrecorded
Alleged victim: Policeman L.L. Wilson
Household Status: Married
Occupation: Painter

Joseph McNeely allegedly shot and wounded a police officer intending to arrest him. He himself was shot twice and was hospitalized at Good Samaritan Hospital in Charlotte, NC. Kept under guard, he was chained to his hospital bed. In the early hours of the morning, a mob came into the hospital, broke into McNeely’s room and took him outside, where they shot him at least thirty times, leaving him for dead. They did their work quickly, possibly, newspaper reports speculated, because the hospital was in the African American part of town and the white mob did not want to risk all-out conflict. As a consequence, McNeely survived for some hours before succumbing to his wounds. There were approximately thirty-five members in the mob. The governor promised active pursuit of the assailants, city leadership offered a $1000 reward, and the coroner held an inquest, but no mob members were found or convicted.

Documentation

Death certificate: None found
Census: None found

News coverage:

Notice of Reward

Quietness Reigning After the Lynching

Majesty of Law Trampled Upon by Mecklenburg Mob

Location

Town: Charlotte, North Carolina
Latitude/Longitude: 35.226927, -80.854564
Rationale:  He was killed outside the old Good Samaritan Hospital, which was razed in 1990 to make way for Bank of America Stadium, where the Carolina Panthers play.

Additional Resources:

Researcher’s Note: