The Lynching of George Smith

Marker Text: In the early hours of October 10, 1891, a mob of white people from Omaha and the surrounding counties gathered at 18th and Farnam Streets to lynch George “Joe Coe” Smith, a 20-year-old Black man. On October 8, local newspapers falsely reported that a white girl died after being assaulted by a Black man. The next day, police found and arrested Mr. Smith even though he had an alibi, and without any evidence tying him to the alleged offense. Within hours, thousands of white men, women and children, shouting “Bring the nigger out!,” marched on the Douglas County Jail and Courthouse, calling for Mr. Smith to be hanged. “Bound for Blood,” white men used crowbars, sledgehammers, and chisels to break into the steel jail cell and abduct Mr. Smith. After capturing him from armed law enforcement officers, the mob placed a rope around Mr. Smith’s neck and pushed him through the window into a crowd of over 10,000 white spectators below. They beat, kicked, and trampled Mr. Smith so severely that by the time his body was hanged at 17th and Harney Streets, it was already lifeless. White people collected pieces of the telegraph pole used to lynch Mr. Smith as souvenirs. Mr. Smith, a waiter at a local hotel, was survived by his wife and young daughter, who lived near 10th and Izard. In the end, the local coroner concluded that he had died of “Fright.” No one was ever held accountable for the lynching of George Smith.