Lynching in America / The Lynching of William Chandler

Marker Text: On June 19, 1895, a white mob in Abbeville, Mississippi, brutally lynched William Chandler, tying him to a telegraph pole in front of the railroad depot and riddling his body with bullets. Mr. Chandler, a Black man from Alabama who had only been in town for a few days, was lynched after being accused of sexual impropriety and stealing a white woman’s purse. Almost 25% of lynchings involved allegations of inappropriate behavior between a Black man and a white woman that was often characterized as “assault.” The mere accusation of sexual impropriety regularly aroused violent mobs and ended in lynching. Following a manhunt by local white residents, Mr. Chandler was arrested and confined to a police officer’s house. Even though a mob had formed earlier that day and despite the clear threat of lynching, authorities made no attempt to ensure Mr. Chandler’s safety while he was in their custody, claiming they “anticipated no trouble” because Abbeville was a “quiet, law-abiding town.” Near midnight, an armed mob arrived at the house and seized Mr. Chandler. The mob dragged Mr. Chandler to the railroad depot, tied him to a telegraph pole, and shot him with rifles and pistols at least a hundred times. Mr. Chandler’s brutalized body was left in the depot overnight to instill terror in the Black community and so that white passengers on the morning train could stop and view it. None of the members of the mob who lynched William Chandler were ever held accountable.