1910-10-08
Caswell County, NC

Alleged offense: Burglary
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Age: Unrecorded
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): No
Legal intervention (following lynching): No
Mob size: Unrecorded
Mob members: John J. Powell
Alleged victim: John J. Powell
Household Status: Unmarried
Occupation: Unemployed

An unidentified African American man had been living around Pelham and Ruffin, North Carolina for about a week, apparently burgling a number of homes. He was interrupted in one such burglary, during which he shot at the home’s “elderly” resident, one John J. Powell. He was sought for at length and eventually discovered in a barn near Pelham, where he was shot. The 1900 federal census lists a John J. Powell, born in 1848, as a resident of Pelham.

Documentation

Death certificate: None found
Census: None found

News coverage:

Negro Burglar Is Shot Down

After an all day search

Location

Town: Pelham, North Carolina
Latitude/Longitude: 36.510708, -79.472764
Rationale: Marker determined according to newspaper accounts citing the lynching as occuring around Pelham and the 1900 census which lists the alleged victim, John J. Powell, born in 1848, as a resident of Pelham.

Additional Resources:

Researcher’s Note: