1898-11-07
Macon County, NC
Alleged offense: Rape
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Age: unrecorded
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): Yes
Legal intervention (following lynching): No
Mob size: 300
Mob members: None named
Alleged victim: Mrs. J. A. Munday; Mrs. C. F. Sherrill
Household Status: Unmarried
Occupation: Unknown
Mitch Mozeley was arrested for two burglary attempts and two attempted rapes in Franklin, Macon County, North Carolina. He was arrested and confessed to the crimes (undoubtedly under duress). As he awaited trial, set for November 26, a mob from Macon removed him from the jail and hanged him “from the nearest tree.” According to reporting (which was nakedly racist), Mozeley confessed to a black preacher and was disowned by representatives of the black community, who averred that he deserved lynching. A mob abducted him from jail and took him to an iron bridge on the east side of town. There, they threaded a rope over the bridge and walked the horse under it, hanging Mozeley. A guard watched over the hanging body until the morning, when a coroner’s inquiry declared that Mozeley had “come to his death at the end of a rope by unknown parties.”
Documentation
Death certificate: None available
Census: None available
News coverage:
Location
Town: Franklin, North Carolina
Latitude/Longitude: 35.181501, -83.381172
Rationale: Reporting notes he was hanged from an iron bridge near the jail.
Additional Resources:
Researcher’s Note: