1908-01-08
Johnston County, NC
Alleged offense: Theft
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Age: Unrecorded
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): No
Legal intervention (following lynching): No
Mob size: Unrecorded
Mob members: Unrecorded
Alleged victim: Unrecorded
Household Status: Unrecorded
Occupation: Unrecorded
An African American performer sold tickets to a “big show” that turned out to be a one-man performance. After he tried to pull the trick a second time, members of the angry, all-black audience covered their heads with guano sacks (burlap sacks used to transport fertilizer) and carried the performer from the boarding house where he was staying. They took him “into the woods” and beat him to death, leaving his “mangled” body on train tracks.
Documentation
Death certificate: None found
Census: None found
News coverage:
Location
Town: Pine Level, North Carolina
Latitude/Longitude: 35.507058, -78.234045
Rationale: Marker determined by descriptions in newspaper accounts that cite a wooded area near the railroad tracks as being the lynching site.
Additional Resources:
Researcher’s Note: