Victim ID: VA1897042301
Victim Name: Joseph McCoy
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: Unknown
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hanged and shot
Accusation: Outraged two young white girls, daughters of his employer
Date: 1897-04-23
City: Alexandria
Mob Composition: 500-1000
Summary: Joseph McCoy, a black teenager, was lynched in Alexandria on April 23rd, 1897, for allegedly assaulting the two young daughters of his white employer, Richard Lacy.
On April 22rd, 1897, Joseph McCoy was arrested for allegedly assaulting two young white women in Alexandria. This accusation spread around the white community, quickly enraging it and leading to numerous threats of lynching McCoy. The Mayor asked the angry crowd to allow the law to take its course, but the mob of about 500-1,000 would not concede. Despite the efforts of the police officers, a mob broke into the Alexandria Jail at about noon on April 23rd, 1897. The ringleaders of the mob went in to take McCoy out of his cell; when they entered in the cell, McCoy had climbed up behind the door. The mob pulled him off and dragged him out of the jail, to the corner of Lee Street and Cameron Street. Preparations for the lynching were quickly made, and McCoy was hung to a lamp post and riddled with bullets (Staunton Spectator and Vindicator). The Coroner, Dr. Purvis, found that the body had a wound over the heart, a cut on his neck, and slight burns from gunpowder on certain body parts. Some went to guard the Lacy’s in their home while the lynching took place. No claim was made by the family or friends of Joseph McCoy for his remains. His aunt said, “as the people killed him they will have to bury him” (Alexandria Gazette). He was interred at Penny Hill Cemetery. The Alexandria Gazette reported that “Gov[ernor] O’Ferrall is said to be very vigorous in his denunciation of the lynching of the negro McCoy in [Alexandria] on Thursday night.” O’Ferrall would then launch an investigation into the lynching, conducted by Colonel Hawes. At the end of 1897, in his final message as Governor, O’Ferrall stated that “In the city of Alexandria, I regret to say, that in my opinion there was dereliction of duty somewhere.”
The Richmond Planet extensively covered the lynching of Joseph McCoy, harshly criticizing Alexandria’s authorities for their failure to prevent the lynching and then to punish the lynchers. In an editorial, the Planet stated: “The damage to the city of Alexandria is incalculable, in that it places that community before the world as a city of lawlessness, where officials disregard their oaths of office and without warrant or excuse suspend the law. What must be thought of a people who would elect such material to office? It shows that the city government is rotten to the core.”
On April 23rd, 2021, the city of Alexandria unveiled an historical maker at the site of the lynching. For a detailed account of the lynching of Joseph McCoy and its aftermath, you can read this report by the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project Research Committee.
News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Norfolk Virginian, Richmond Planet, Staunton Spectator and Vindicator
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1897-04-23)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1897-04-24)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1897-04-26)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1897-05-17)
Article Link (from Norfolk Virginian published on 1897-04-24)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1897-05-01)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1897-05-01)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1897-05-08)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1897-05-15)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1897-05-22)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1897-05-29)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1897-05-29)
Article Link (from Staunton Spectator and Vindicator published on 1897-04-29)