1888-05-05
Beaufort County, NC
Alleged offense: Murder
Race: White
Gender: Male
Age: Unrecorded
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): Yes
Legal intervention (following lynching): No
Mob size: Unrecorded
Mob members: None named
Alleged victim: Joshua Cox
Household Status: Unmarried
Occupation: Employee at Cox and Bros. Lumber
On the first Saturday in May of 1888, in Blount’s Creek, North Carolina, Thomas Frazier entered a store owned by lumberman Joshua H. Cox, the brother of Frazier’s employer. Frazier allegedly demanded liquor, Cox refused it, and Frazier was accused of then firing at Cox, who perished. Frazier fled, but Cox’s brother found him and held him until authorities arrived, who took him to the county jail in Beaufort. There he was placed in heavy chains under the watch of a guard but early the following morning a “company of masked men” got past the guard and took Frazier to the spot where he killed Cox. It was there the mob riddled him with bullets. The exact time of the lynching and size of the mob are both unrecorded. None of the mob members were publicly identified.
Documentation
Death certificate: None found
Census: None found
News coverage:
Location
Town: Washington, North Carolina (Blount’s Creek)
Latitude/Longitude: 35.546922, -77.051912
Rationale: The Tarboro Southerner and Fisherman and farmer mentioned a small community named Blount’s creek about 20 miles from Washington. Found it on google maps (18 miles away from Washington), so that serves as the latitude and longitude, but kept the town as Washington since Blount’s creek is unincorporated.
Additional Resources:
Researcher’s Note: