Victim ID: VA1898091201
Victim Name: Lee Puckett
Race: White
Sex: Male
Age: young
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Riddled with bullets
Accusation: Criminal assault on a white woman
Date: 1898-09-12
City: Stuart
Mob Composition: Undisguised white men

Summary: A young white man named Lee Puckett was lynched in Stuart, Patrick County, on September 12^th, 1898, for attempting to assault a woman.

About a year before his lynching, Lee Puckett “was discharged from a prosecution for house-breaking upon the plea of lunacy. He was sent to an insane asylum, but escaped in a short time, and has since been going at large” (Staunton Spectator and Vindicator). On Saturday, September 10^th, 1898, Puckett allegedly attempted to assault Miss Phoebe Gates, a young woman living in Friends’ Mission, in Patrick County (Alexandria Gazette). Puckett was arrested and brought before a justice of the peace to withstand trial in Stuart (Staunton Spectator and Vindicator). During the trial, a group of undisguised men took Puckett from the custody of the deputy sheriff and brought him only a short distance and riddled him with bullets in open daylight. All the lynchers were well-known people in the crowd, making no attempt to disguise themselves; however, at the time of the lynching no arrests were made (Alexandria Gazette).

On November 29^th, 1898, a grand jury was convened in Stuart, indicting the slayers of Lee Puckett. The six men on trial for the lynching of Lee Puckett were: C. T. Thompson, L. D. McMillan Jr., Madison Montgomery Jr., H. E. Montgomery, William Branch, and Robert Montgomery (The Times). The grand jury found true bills for murder against the six men. In March 1899, the trial for the six lynchers, however, resulted in a hung jury (Alexandria Gazette). On July 1^st, 1899, a new trial found the six defendants guilty of second degree murder, punishing them with 5 to 6 years of prison (The Times). The Times claimed that “this is the first instance in the history of Virginia where lynchers were ever being tried and convicted. And it is a great victory for law and order.”

News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Richmond Planet, Staunton Spectator and Vindicator, The Times, Virginian-Pilot

Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1898-09-14)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1898-12-01)
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1899-03-31)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1899-07-08)
Article Link (from Staunton Spectator and Vindicator published on 1898-09-22)
Article Link (from The Times published on 1898-11-30)
Article Link (from The Times published on 1898-12-01)
Article Link (from The Times published on 1899-07-04)