Victim ID: VA1880011901
Victim Name: Arthur Jordan
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 23
Job: Farmer
Method of Death: Hanged – strangulation
Accusation: Eloping with a white girl, half-witted
Date: 1880-01-19
City: Warrenton
Mob Composition: 40 to 50 masked men
Summary: Arthur Jordan, a black man, was lynched at approximately 2 AM on January 19th, 1880 in Warrenton, Fauquier County. Jordan was accused of eloping with a half-witted, white girl.
An employee of Nathan Corder, Arthur Jordan had a consensual relationship with Elvira Corder, the 25-year-old daughter of his employer. When Elvira got pregnant, the couple eloped and moved to Williamsport, MD. After learning that the couple was in Williamsport, Nathan Corder and a small group of family friends crossed the state line to kidnap Jordan and bring him back to Virginia. On Thursday, January 15th, 1880, the kidnappers and Jordan passed through the city of Winchester, Virginia: “The party of five persons and the negro, all on horseback, were proceeding through Loudoun street, when in front of Robinson’s hardware store the negro refused to go any farther, and stated that he desired to see a lawyer. His captors tried to urge him in vain, when Constable Smith and Policeman Brown, attracted by the affair, arrested the whole party, negro and all, and carried them before Justice Crebs. Here a warrant was sworn out in form, and one of the party being a constable, the negro was delivered into his custody to be returned to Fauquier” (Staunton Spectator). After spending a few nights in the Fauquier County jail in Warrenton, about 50 men in disguise forced their way into the jail at around 2 AM on January 19th, 1880. Arthur Jordan was taken from his cell and hanged from a tree near a cemetery. The Coroner’s Inquisition investigating Jordan’s death concluded that “Arthur Jordan came to his death at or about the hour of two O’clock in the morning of this 19th day of January 1880, by unlawful violence by strangulation with a rope around his neck at the end of which said rope he was dragged, and by which said rope he was suspended by his neck to the limb of a tree. We further find that the unlawful violence aforesaid […] was committed by a party of men variously estimated as numbering from forty to fifty, whose names are unknown to us, unless the name of Johnny Ball, whom Anthony Smith (one of the witnesses) says he recognized among the men who took Arthur Jordan from Jail.” Dr. John Ward estimated that Arthur was killed before he arrived at the tree, strangulated by the rope around his neck. No other evidence was found relating to any parties associated with the lynching of Arthur Jordan.
On January 22nd, 1880, a Black member of the House of Delegate in Richmond proposed a resolution to condemn the lynching, asking the Governor of Virginia to offer a reward for the arrest and prosecution of the lynchers (Norfolk Virginian). The resolution overwhelmingly failed to pass, as all white members of the House voted against it (Harrisburg Daily Independent).
On this lynching, you can read Jim Hall’s book, Condemned for Love in Old Virginia: The Lynching of Arthur Jordan.
Archival Sources: Coroner’s Inquisition
News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Harrisburg Daily Independent, Norfolk Virginian, Staunton Spectator, Staunton Vindicator, Winchester Times
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1880-01-19)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1880-01-20)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1880-01-21)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1880-01-22)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1880-02-03)
Article Link (from Staunton Spectator published on 1880-01-27)