Victim ID: VA1869081902
Victim Name: Jacob Berryman
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: Unknown
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hanged
Accusation: Outraging a 15 year-old unmarried white girl
Date: 1869-08-20
City: Front Royal
Mob Composition: Disguised
Summary: Jacob Berryman (sometimes referred to as Jacob Merryman/Merriman), a black man, was lynched on August 20th, 1869 with Charles Brown, in Warren County. Berryman was accused of assaulting Alice Thompson, a 15-year-old white girl.
On Monday, August 16th, 1869, Alice Thompson, a 15-year-old white girl, was sent by her parents to Front Royal to purchase goods for her family. At about 10 AM, when Thompson began the route home, she was noticed by Charles Brown and Jacob Berryman. Brown and Berryman allegedly pursued Thompson for more than a mile into a path in the woods. Brown then caught Thompson from behind, and proceeded to choke her and throw her onto the ground. Brown threatened to shoot Thompson if she did not follow his directions. Brown ordered Thompson to walk farther into the woods, where Berryman stepped out from behind a tree to chase her. Thompson ran away from Brown and Berryman and was able to escape a further attack. That same day, Brown and Berryman were arrested and accused of committing an assault against Thompson. On Tuesday, August 17th, Brown and Berryman were brought before the court for their preliminary examination, during which Thompson identified Brown as the assailant, but failed to identify Berryman. However, the evidence presented against Berryman “established beyond a doubt, that [he] was the companion of Brown in this outrage upon Miss Thompson” (Staunton Spectator). The court set the date of trial for August 25th, and placed the two men in jail. According to the Daily Dispatch, “threats of lynching the criminals were so current in the neighborhood that the jail for some days and nights was guarded by a strong force of armed men.” According to the Coroner’s Inquiry, at around 2AM on August 20th, six disguised men entered the jail armed with revolvers and took the two men from the custody of the jailer. Neither newspaper articles nor the Coroner’s Inquiry were able to identify the 6 men who took Brown and Berryman. They were found hung to a tree on the land of Samuel B. Gardner about one mile from Front Royal. The New York Times reported that Brown and Berryman’s cells “were empty the next morning,” while the Richmond Dispatch recounted that Berryman and Brown, the two men “implicated in the outrage of Miss Thompson, near Front Royal, were taken by the citizens and hanged.”
You can find additional information about this lynching here.
Archival Sources: Coroner’s Inquisition
News Coverage: New York Times; Richmond Dispatch; Staunton Spectator
Article Link (from New York Times published on 1869-08-22)
Article Link (from Richmond Dispatch published on 1869-08-23)
Article Link (from Staunton Spectator published on 1869-08-24)
Article Link (from Staunton Spectator published on 1869-08-31)