1919-12-27
Franklin County, NC
Alleged offense: Murder
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Age: 25
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): Yes
Legal intervention (following lynching): No
Mob size: Unrecorded
Mob members: Unrecorded
Alleged victim: R. M. Brown
Household Status: Unmarried
Occupation: Recently discharged from the army
Anderson Ed Powell Green (commonly referred to as simply, “Powell Green”), a recently discharged soldier, was charged with shooting R.M. Brown, a movie theater proprietor. A police officer tried to intervene in the altercation unsuccessfully. Green was arrested quickly and after a consultation with other law enforcement officers, was placed in a car headed toward Raleigh. However a mob quickly swarmed around the car, overpowered the officers, and took Powell from the backseat. The mob then dragged Powell behind the car for a half mile before hanging him from a pine sapling and shooting him multiple times. Powell Green’s body remained hanging the next days as crowds flocked to the site of his lynching a mile and half away from Franklinton. The Governor offered hundreds of dollars of rewards to anyone who could give the names of members of the mob, but it appears as though no one turned any mob members in.
Documentation
Death certificate: None found
Census: None found
News coverage:
Body of Negro Killed by Mob is Discovered
Whole State Shocked and Humiliated Says bickett, On Lynching
Negro Killed White Man After Former was Arrested by Officer
Bickett Offers a Reward of $400 Each for Lynchers
Location
Town: Franklinton, North Carolina
Latitude/Longitude: 36.100852, -78.459836
Rationale: “Half a mile south from the east edge of Franklinton town.”
Additional Resources:
Researcher’s Note: