allegedlVictim ID: VA1918112401
Victim Name: Charlie Allie Thompson
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 18
Job: Laborer
Method of Death: Hanged
Accusation: Attacking a married white woman
Date: 1918-11-25
City: Culpeper
Mob Composition: 12-15 masked men

Summary: Charlie ‘Allie’ Thompson, an 18 year old black youth from Amissville, was lynched on November 25^th, 1918, in Culpeper for allegedly attacking a married white woman.

Allie Thompson was arrested for allegedly assaulting Mrs. Lelia Sisk and taken to jail in Culpeper in late November, 1918. Between 2 and 3 AM on November 25^th, 1918, two men arrived at the jail with a man bound in ropes. The two men told the jailers, Tipton and Herndon, that the man in ropes was to be jailed (Daily Star). Tipton and Herndon believed the story and opened the jail door. Suddenly, 12 to 15 masked men stepped into the jailhouse, overpowered the two guards and took the jail keys. After finding Thompson, the masked men quietly carried him out of the jail. Thompson’s body was found at sunrise dangling to a tree on Rixeyville Road three miles north of Culpeper (Richmond Times-Dispatch). A coroner’s jury found that there was no evidence to identify the men participating in the lynching party. The Richmond Times-Dispatch claimed that it had been 40 years since a lynching had occurred in Culpeper County. According to Allie Thompson’s death certificate, the cause of death was “Lynch[ed] for rape on white woman. […] Was hanged by a rope.” Several newspapers criticized the lynching while the Richmond Planet exhorted Governor Westmoreland Davis to launch an investigation to identify the lynchers and offer a reward for their capture.

A century after the lynching, the town of Culpeper commemorated the life of Charlie Allie Thompson during a two-hour ceremony. For additional information about Allie Thompson and his lynching, you can consult this website and this investigative report by Allison Brophy Champion and Zann Miner.

Archival Sources: Death Certificate

News Coverage: Daily Star, Free Lance-Star, Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, Richmond Planet, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Roanoke Times, Staunton Daily Leader

Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1918-11-30)