Victim ID: VA1889031401
Victim Name: Magruder Fletcher
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 25
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hanged and shot – strangulation
Accusation: Outraged a married white woman, wife of an oysterman
Date: 1889-03-14
County Name: Accomack
Mob Composition: About 100 masked men
Summary: The lynching of Magruder Fletcher, a black man, occurred on March 14th, 1889 in Accomack, Virginia. Fletcher was accused of outraging a married white woman.
On the night of Sunday, March 10th, 1889, Magruder Fletcher broke into the house of Mrs. Mary McCready in Messongo, Accomack County, where he allegedly assaulted her. Fletcher threatened to kill McCready and her children if she were to scream. After Fletcher left, McCready fled to her nearest neighbor and Fletcher was arrested. On March 14th, 1889, between 1AM and 2AM, a band of about 100 masked men “proceeded to the home of Jailer Melson and demanded the keys of the jail” (Shenandoah Herald). After Melson refused, the men threatened to burn Melson’s house down. Melson complied and led the men to the jail. The masked men received Fletcher from his cell and hauled him a mile away from the jail. The armed mob took Fletcher out of the cart, mutilated him, and hanged his body from the limb of a pine tree, where he hanged until death. The men also fired a number of bullets into Fletcher’s body. Early the next morning, Fletcher’s body was found with a card pinned to his chest that read: “we will protect our mothers, our wives, our sisters, and our daughters. Committee” (Shenandoah Herald). According to the Shenandoah Herald, “Hundred of people visited the scene of the hanging, and many carried away branches of the tree on which the negro paid the penalty of his terrible crime.” The newspaper also reported that “The verdict of the coroner’s jury that viewed the body was that ‘Magruder Fletcher came to his death by hanging at the hands of men unknown to the jury.’ There will be no further legal proceedings in the case.”
On March 22nd, 1889, Mrs. Mary McCready reportedly died due to the injuries she received from Magruder Fletcher (Norfolk Virginian). The Alexandria Gazette also reported that the citizens of Messongo were so infuriated that days after the lynching they intimated the black residents to leave town, which they did in haste.
News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Norfolk Virginian, Norfolk Weekly Landmark, Shenandoah Herald, Staunton Spectator
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1888-03-12)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1889-03-25)
Article Link (from Shenandoah Herald published on 1889-03-22)
Article Link (from Staunton Spectator published on 1889-03-27)
This event is also reported, with some differences, in the Norfolk Landmark, March 15, 1889 and the Norfolk Virginian, same date. Perhaps the most telling of the stories is one from the March 15 Norfolk Virginian:
“The negro brute Fletcher Magruder, who outraged the person of Mrs. Obediah MacReady, on Sunday night last, says that he was sent there by a man, with whom Mrs. MacReady had made arrangements to elope, and that not getting off, and for fear of being caught, brought this charge against him. His story is not given any credence whatever. The people are greatly excited over the affair and Fletcher will probably be lynched immediately upon the return of Capt. MacReady.”
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The story is common. Whatever transgression had been committed, it was blamed on a Black person. Blacks were the “safe” culprits; the sins of Whites were often projected onto them. Magruder (the newspapers differ whether he was Fletcher Magruder or Magruder Fletcher) was actually lynched before that story ran, having been taken from the jail early the morning of March 14 by a party of 75 masked men, mutilated, and hanged.
This scenario is typical: without a trial, the newspaper prejudged the “negro brute” to have “outraged” Mrs. MacReady. Guilt was assumed by the white community, and the man was lynched.
Al, thank you for your comment and for providing additional details about this lynching.