Lynchings in Leavenworth County

Marker Text: On January 30, 1887, a mob of at least 35 white men seized a Black 18-year-old named Richard Wood from the county jail and lynched him. The mob brutally dragged Mr. Wood by a rope around his neck for over a mile and left his lifeless body in the middle of the street. On August 20, 1893, a white mob lynched a Black man named Silas Wilson near Millwood. After it was rumored that Mr. Wilson had “an acquaintance” with a young white woman, the mob attacked him, beat him severely, and hanged him to a honey locust tree. Even though the Kansas governor offered a reward for the mob’s arrest, the white community refused to identify the lynchers. Eight years later, up to 12,000 people, including white men, women, and children, gathered in Leavenworth to watch the public spectacle lynching of a Black man named Fred Alexander on January 15, 1901. A mob stormed the county jail, abducted Mr. Alexander, and carried him to a ravine that was 300 yards from his family home. There, the mob chained Mr. Alexander to a stake and burned him alive, accusing him of crimes involving white women. When Mr. Alexander’s mother and sisters came to the lynching site, the press reported that they sent “up a heart piercing wail” as his mother cried out, “Oh poor Fred. Poor Fred.” In the end, no one was held accountable for these lynchings.