Victim ID: VA1893092101
Victim Name: Thomas Smith
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: Unknown
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hanged and riddled with bullets; burned
Accusation: Assault & robbery on a white woman, wife of a well-to-do farmer
Date: 1893-09-21
City: Roanoke
Mob Composition: 4,000-5,000

Summary: Thomas Smith, an African American man, was lynched for the alleged assault of Mrs. Henry Bishop, wife of a well-to-do farmer, in Roanoke. On September 21^st, 1893, an angry mob of 4000-5000 people removed Smith from his jail cell, where he was hung and his body riddled with bullets and then burned. Earlier attempts to lynch Smith led to the Roanoke Riot.

Mrs. Henry Bishop, a white woman and the wife of a prominent farmer in Roanoke, went to the city on September 20^th, 1893, with a wagon in order to sell produce. Thomas Smith allegedly lured Mrs. Bishop into a room under the pretenses of buying grapes, where he proceeded to attack her. Smith allegedly demanded her money, which totaled $2, attempted to slit her throat with a knife, and beat her with a brick. The trauma on Bishop’s head was so severe that one eye became dislodged from its socket (Alexandria Gazette). Detective Baldwin was able to capture Smith, avoid a mob of hundreds of people, and take Smith to the city jail. An angry mob of 4000-5000 citizens formed around the jailhouse where Smith was being held and demanded that he be turned into their custody. According to the Alexandria Gazette, “Mayor Trout, and Commonwealth’s Attorney Hardoway addressed the mob, assuring them that the full penalty of the law would be enforced if the negro’s guilt should be established. This seemed to satisfy them for the time, but a few remained to watch the jail to see that no effort was made to remove the prisoner.” However, by 5 o’clock, another large crowd gathered outside of the jail and the Roanoke Light Infantry was called out to protect the prisoner (Alexandria Gazette); the militia was able to clear the square and make two arrests. During the night, the mob came back again and after surrounding the jail, they “began to batter at the door leading to the stairway ascending to the cells and the front door, which opens into the police court room. Stones crashed through the windows of the latter, and the doors were about to give way when the militia were ordered to fire, and a volley of lead struck terror to the mob, which was led by a son of Mrs. Bishop” (Alexandria Gazette). Nine people died as a result of gunfire. Finally, Smith was taken from jail, he was hanged to a tree, riddled with bullets, and his body was later burned. Pictures of Thomas Smith’s body hanging from a tree were made and sold as souvenirs.

On November 15^th, 1893, five people were put on trial for the lynching of Thomas Smith (The Roanoke Times); one was later acquitted, and two received light sentences for their participation to the riot, but not for their role in the lynching of Thomas Smith (Richmond Planet). At the same trial, the Chief of Police, J. F. Terry, and another officer were acquitted from the charge of being accessories to the murder of Thomas Smith. However, in December 1893, Mayor Trout removed Chief Terry from his position because his failure to protect Thomas was unbecoming conduct for a police officer (Richmond Planet). On January 15^th, 1894, four men were found guilty of burning the body of Thomas Smith and sentenced to twelve months in jail (Richmond Dispatch). No-one was punished for the actual murder of Thomas Smith.

On September 21^st, 2022, exactly 129 years after Thomas Smith was murdered, the Equal Justice Initiative and the Roanoke Community Remembrance Project erected an historical marker in Roanoke to remember this lynching. The marker reads: “On September 21, 1893, a white mob lynched a young Black man named Thomas Smith in Roanoke, Virginia. The day before, Mr. Smith was accused of assaulting a white woman near the Roanoke City Market. During this era, Black people were burdened with a presumption of guilt that often led to hasty police action, which was regularly followed by lethal mob violence. Mr. Smith was arrested and placed in the city jail where a mob of at least 4,000 white people gathered. Aware of the impending violence, the Mayor of Roanoke summoned the local militia and police officers removed Mr. Smith from the jail. Though legally required to protect Mr. Smith, the officers removed Mr. Smith from the jail for only a few hours before they handed him over to the mob. Members of the mob dragged Mr. Smith to the corner of Franklin Road and Mountain Avenue where the hanged him from a hickory tree and riddled his body with bullets. The crowd of white people gathered at the site and cut off pieces of Mr. Smith’s clothing, the rope, and the tree to carry away as souvenirs. They then took Mr. Smith’s body nearby to the bank of the Roanoke River and burned his corpse atop a pile of wood in front of more than 4,000 cheering men, women, and children while Mr. Smith’s 15-year-old sister watched. Although thousands of spectators participated and many photographs were produced, no one was ever held accountable for the lynching of Thomas Smith.”

News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Peninsula Enterprise, Richmond Dispatch, Richmond Planet, Roanoke Daily Record, Roanoke Times, Shenandoah Herald

Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1893-09-21)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1893-09-22)
Article Link (from Peninsula Enterprise published on 1893-09-23)
Article Link (from Richmond Dispatch published on 1894-01-16)
Article Link (from Roanoke Times published on 1893-09-21)
Article Link (from Roanoke Times published on 1893-09-22)
Article Link (from Roanoke Times published on 1893-11-15)
Article Link (from Shenandoah Herald published on 1893-09-22)