Jack Blount
Matthew Blount
Patterson Spruill
1888-01-26
Washington County, NC
Alleged offense: Murder
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Age: Unrecorded
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): Yes
Legal intervention (following lynching): Yes
Mob size: 100
Mob members: None named
Alleged victim: John Dawson
Household Status: Unrecorded
Occupation: Unrecorded, Preacher (Matthew Blount)
A mob shot and killed Patterson Spruill, Matthew Blount, and Jack Blount on January 26, 1888. Authorities charged the three with murder. Spruill, Blount, and Blount allegedly murdered a traveling peddler, John Dawson, near Creswell on January 1. All three accused men confessed. A mob went to the jail in Plymouth where officers held Spruill, Blount, and Blount. The mob carried the men to the woods a mile from town, tied each man to a tree, and riddled each one with bullets.
Documentation
Death certificate: None found
Census: None found
News coverage:
Location
Town: Plymouth, North Carolina
Latitude/Longitude: 35.867503, -76.750515
Rationale: The men were killed in the woods near Plymouth.
Additional Resources:
Researcher’s Note: