Jan. 31, 1893, Economic changes and industrialization often
brought people into conflict, in the Jim Crow south the conflict was usually
blamed on Blacks even when there was no evidence but a confession drawn out by torture.
This seems to be the case of a late-night lynch party in Tazewell
County where four men were lynched in one location and a fifth hung for the
same crime in a different part of the county. The men Jerry Brown, Sam McDonald,
Spencer Branch, and John Johnson were lynched in Richfields Virginia where the
crime they were said to have committed occurred. The fifth man named Sam Blow
was lynched in Cedar Bluff.
The men allegedly murdered two prominent Buchanan County merchants
Alex Ratcliffe and Bob Shortridge and robbed them. As the Black men were all railroad
workers and the assault happened at the tracks the Tazewell County sheriff made
an instant connection. Apparently, Jerry Brown did have a reputation as a “rough
man,” and this was an additional reason to arrest him.
After several hours in custody, Brown was reported to have
confessed. He said he and his friends saw the two men flashing money so they attacked
them with a hatchet and club. Shortly after this, a mob of about 500 broke into
the jail led by local magistrate James Hurt, and businessman James Crabtree. The mob marched Brown
to an oak tree across the train yard from where the two white men were killed
and hung him.
By this time Sheriff's deputies had found Branch and Johnson and arrested them but
knowing that a mob had taken Brown took them through the woods to Cedar Bluff
to meet the train. When the deputies boarded the train they found it was under the control of the mob and it was being taken back to Richfields. Also on board was
the fourth suspect Sam McDonald and who had confessed to being involved with the
robbery and he had also confessed to the murder of Jo Hunt the year before. The
three men were then hung from the same tree as Brown.
Another mob had found Sam Blow in Cedar Bluffs and had lynched
him for his part in the murders, he was implicated in Johnson’s final statement
as were two White men known only by the names Lambert and Harman. Although a posse
was formed to find Lambert in West Virginia there was no mention of him being
found. Deputy Tazewell County Sheriff Joe Peery also stated that a sixth Black
man, Sam Barns, had been hung for his participation in the robbery/murder.
Sources:
https://www.newspapers.com/image/84741278/?terms=%22Jerry%20Brown%22&match=1&clipping_id=7852857
https://www.thehomesickappalachian.com/lynchings-in-southwest-virginia/
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/richlands-lynching-clinch-valley-news-february-3-1893/
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