Victim ID: VA1905022001
Victim Name: George Henderson
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 26
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hounded to his death and drowned
Accusation: Race hatred
Date: 1905-02-27
City: Ingham
Mob Composition: White men and boys

Summary: A crowd of white men and boys chased down George Henderson, a 26-year-old black man from North Carolina, causing him to drown in a dam in February 1905, near Ingham in Page County. Henderson was pursued due to race hatred.

On February 26^th or 27^th, 1905, George Henderson, also reported in the newspapers as Henry Henderson, was traveling by freight train to Martinsburg, West Virginia, when he was put off the train at the Grove Hill station, three miles south of Ingham (Richmond Planet). A crowd of white men and boys immediately started to chase Henderson, who tried to escape running towards Ingham. According to The Times Dispatch, “When the negro reached Ingham, he was again accosted and told to move rapidly on, which he did, followed by several men and youths of that place. To escape then he attempted to cross the river on the dam, and when about midway he was washed down the swift current into water fifteen feet deep. The drowning was witnessed by a number on the bank of the stream.” Henderson’s body was found more than a month later, on April 2^nd, about 200 yards down the stream where Henderson drowned (Alexandria Gazette). The Richmond Planet reported that Mr. Henderson was pursued due to “an unwritten law that no colored man shall be permitted to stop over or pass through that neighborhood.” According to the Washington Post, the race hatred in the local community originated in 1880 when “a little [white] child had its tongue cut out by a negro [most likely Alison Jackson], after which he threw the body into the river. For this crime he was lynched.” While no arrests were immediately made, the sheriff, coroner and Commonwealth attorney started to investigate the Henderson’s lynching.

On March 1^st, 1905, David Comer, one of the men charged with Henderson’s death, was arrested and brought to the jail in Luray. He was later discharged for insufficient evidence (Alexandria Gazette); five more warrants were also issued, but the men were able to flee the county before their arrest. On April 19^th, Isaac Keyser was indicted and arrested for the drowning of Henderson (The Times Dispatch); on April 28^th, a grand jury in Luray indicted ten more young white men, “all members of well known families” (Shenandoah Herald). On May 19^th, 1905, Governor Montague offered a reward of $150 for the three leaders of the crowd who chased Henderson and who were still at large; all the other participants had been indicted and arrested (Richmond Times-Dispatch). In February 1906, Isaac Keyser, Edgar Breeden and ‘Dock’ Comer were put on trial for the drowning of George Henderson, while other men who were indicted had fled the County (Richmond Times-Dispatch); on February 20^th, 1906, the three men were acquitted of all charges, the jury deliberating for little more than than a minute before delivering their not guilty verdict (Rockingham Register).

News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Daily Press, Richmond Planet, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Roanoke Evening News, Roanoke Times, Rockingham Register, Shenandoah Herald, Staunton Daily Leader, Washington Post

Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1905-04-04)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1905-03-04)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1905-03-01)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1905-04-04)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1905-04-05)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1905-04-16)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1905-04-20)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1905-05-20)
Article Link (from Shenandoah Herald published on 1905-04-28)
Article Link (from Washington Post published on 1905-03-02)