Victim ID: VA1885111501
Victim Name: Noah Cherry
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 15-18
Job: Employee of Powell, girls father
Method of Death: Hanged and then riddled with bullets
Accusation: Attempted assault and murder of a 10 year-old white girl
Date: 1885-11-15
County Name: Princess Anne
Mob Composition: 150 to 200
Summary: Noah Cherry, an 18-year-old black man, was lynched in Princess Anne, Virginia, on November 15th, 1885, for the murder of Alice Powell, a 10-year-old white girl.
On Friday, November 13th, 1885, a 10-year-old schoolgirl, Alice Powell, was stabbed three times to death, her body found at night by a large search party. Noah Cherry, a black man previously employed by Mr. Powell, was accused of the crime because the girl’s books were found in his possession and his bloody clothes were found at his grandmother’s. On Saturday, Cherry was arrested for the murder of Alice Powell. On Sunday, November 15th, 1885, at about 11 PM, a mob of about 150 to 200 people captured Cherry from the jail; as Cherry tried to escape, he was shot on the arm. The mob then put a rope around his neck and Cherry confessed to the crime because of revenge. Cherry was hung on a pine branch and then his body riddled with 100 bullets. After the lynching, the crowd left quickly. It was only on Monday at noon that Cherry’s body was cut down from the tree, and a judge ordered to hold an inquest into Cherry’s death. Cherry’s body was buried in a pine box in the jail yard without any service (Alexandria Gazette). The Richmond Dispatch reported that “the rope with which Cherry was lynched was cut into pieces and given to whoever desired souvenirs of the occasion.” The Norfolk Landmark also noted that “Quite a number of people of this city visited the scene of this murder and hanging yesterday [November 16th] several of whom brought back pieces of the tree upon which the murderer met his end, as well as pieces of the rope, and one man secured the hat and shoes of the fiend, and they can now be seen at his place of business, on Market square.”
The day after the lynching, the Coroner’s Inquisition met at the Court House to investigate Noah Cherry’s death. The jury concluded that “Noah Cherry came to his death on the night of the 15th day of November 1885 by being hung by the neck, and several gun or pistol shot wounds in the body by person or persons to the jury unknown.”
Additional information about this lynching is available here and here.
Archival Sources: Coroner’s Inquisition
News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Norfolk Landmark, Norfolk Virginian, Peninsula Enterprise, Richmond Dispatch, Staunton Spectator
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1885-11-16)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1885-11-17)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1885-11-18)
Article Link (from Peninsula Enterprise published on 1885-11-21)
Article Link (from Richmond Dispatch published on 1885-11-17)
Article Link (from Richmond Dispatch published on 1885-11-18)
I am very interested in finding out as much as I can about Noah Cherry and the circumstances surrounding his lynching. I’m particularly interested in finding out who the “Mr. Murden” was who was jailer at that time. My paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Murden, and he could have been an uncle or other close relative. (She was born in 1905.) The lynching took place not far from where my grandfather Shipp (born 1903) had his farm on West Neck Road, just off of North Landing.
Karen, thank you for your comment. These newspaper articles are the only information I have about this lynching and its circumstances. There might be archival material, such as the coroner report, at the Princess Anne County courthouse.