Victim ID: VA1893020201
Victim Name: Unnamed Negro
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: Unknown
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hanged
Accusation: Implicated in the murder of a white man
Date: 1893-02-02
City: Cedar Bluff
Mob Composition: Unknown
Summary: On February 2nd 1893, an unnamed African American man, maybe named Sam Burns, was possibly lynched in Doran, near Richlands in Tazewell County. This man was lynched because another lynching victim, John Johnson, implicated him and Sam Blow with the murder of Mr. Hunt, a white man.
In September 1891, a white man named James Hunt was robbed and murdered in Doran, near Richlands. Two white men, Lambert and Harman, were arrested for the murder, but then released for lack of evidence (Clinch Valley News). On February 1st, 1893, John Johnson was lynched in Richlands (together with Sam Ellerson, Spencer Branch and Jerry Brown) in connection with the murder of two white merchants. Before he was lynched, Johnson “confessed that he participated in the Hunt murder and mentioned Sam Blow and Sam Burns (both colored), and two white men [Lambert and Harman] as accomplices” (The Times). On February 2nd, 1893, Sam Blow was arrested and, after being taken from jail in Cedar Bluff, hanged to an apple tree. There is also an unconfirmed report indicating also that “Sam Burns was captured at Maiden Spring last night [February 2nd] and hanged at Doran, a mile west of Richlands” (The Times). Another newspaper, the Clinch Valley News, wrote that the “Deputy Sheriff, John Poery, from Richlands last evening, reports the hanging of another, a sixth negro, for complicity in the Hunt murder. Sam Burns is the name given.” This possible lynching victim has not been further confirmed.
News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Clinch Valley News, Shenandoah Herald, Roanoke Times, The Times
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1893-02-04)
Article Link (from Clinch Valley News published on 1893-02-03)
Article Link (from Roanoke Times published on 1893-02-02)
Article Link (from Shenandoah Herald published on 1893-02-10)
Article Link (from The Times published on 1893-02-02)
Article Link (from The Times published on 1893-02-03)