Victim ID: VA1888071101
Victim Name: William Henry Smith
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: Unknown
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hanged and riddled with bullets
Accusation: Criminal assault on a married white woman, respectable lady
Date: 1888-07-11
City: Wytheville
Mob Composition: Unknown
Summary: William Henry Smith, an African American man living in Pulaski County, was lynched on July 11th, 1888, near Wytheville.
Smith had been accused of committing an outrage on a Mrs. Midhiff or Midkiff earlier in the week and, according to the Shenandoah Herald, he was captured in Christiansburg and brought to Churchwood, where he was arrested. The paper also reported that a mob of 25 persons took Smith from the jailer and brought him to the victim for identification; however, she “was so frightened and distraught that she could not positively identify him.” After beating Smith up, the would-be lynchers took him back to the deputy. The Alexandria Gazette reported that on the night of July 11th, 1888, Smith “was taken from the cars while being moved for greater safety, hanged to a neighboring tree and his body riddled with bullets. The parties to the lynching are unknown, but are supposed to be from Pulaski.”
News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Shenandoah Herald
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1888-07-12)