Victim ID: VA1921080301
Victim Name: Lemuel Johnson
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 23
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hanged
Accusation: Murder of a white man, a postmaster
Date: 1921-08-03
City: Tobacco
Mob Composition: Nearly 2,000, masked
Summary: On August 3rd, 1921, Lemuel Johnson, a 23-year-old black man, was lynched in Tobacco, Brunswick County. A mob suspected that Johnson and Will Elmore, another black man, were the murderers of a white postmaster; after lynching Johnson, the mob also tried to lynch Will Elmore.
Two black men, Lemuel (Lem) Johnson and Will Elmore, were captured in McKenney, Dinwiddie County, at around 11 PM on August 2nd, 1921, with the accusation of having robbed and murdered Tingley Elmore, the postmaster of Tobacco, Brunswick County (Richmond Times-Dispatch). As news of the capture spread around the County, after midnight on August 3rd, a masked mob of “nearly 2,000 Dinwiddie and Brunswick county citizens” (Richmond Times-Dispatch) formed and intercepted the guards taking the two men to the jail in Lawrenceville. More than 100 cars started chasing the officers and their prisoners; at about nine miles from Lawrenceville, the mob was able to reach and overpower the guards and take Johnson back to Tobacco. After extracting a confession from Johnson, the mob hanged him outside of the store of postmaster Elmore (Richmond Times-Dispatch). After Lemuel Johnson was hanged, the mob believed that it was not Johnson who was responsible for the murder, but instead it was Will Elmore, the other prisoner. As the mob tried to lynch Will Elmore too, “the county authorities managed to save the man from mob violence and he was rushed to Richmond for safe keeping” (Richmond Planet). The Coroner’s Inquisition concluded that “We find [Lemuel Johnson] then dead hanging by his neck to a limb of a tree, & came to his death by a mob, the parties composed the mob is unknowned [unknown].” Both the Richmond Planet and the Richmond Times-Dispatch condemned the lynching.
Governor Davis ordered the Commonwealth’s Attorney of Brunswick to investigate the lynching of Lemuel Johnson, expecting to receive a full report in his office (Richmond Times-Dispatch). A few days later, a judge issued a special grand jury to investigate the lynching of Lemuel Johnson (Alexandria Gazette); many prominent citizens were thought to be implicated in the lynching (Virginian-Pilot). On August 17th, 1921, the special grand jury heard from more than 100 witnesses, but failed to indict anyone (Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch). On the same day, Judge West ordered to move the entire Elmore trial from Lawrenceville to Richmond to avoid another lynching (Richmond Planet). At the Elmore trial in Richmond, nearly one hundred citizens from Brunswick county were in attendance; Elmore was found guilty of murder and sentenced to the electric chair (Richmond Times-Dispatch).
Archival Sources: Coroner’s Inquisition
News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, Portsmouth Star, Richmond Planet, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Roanoke World News, Staunton News-Leader, Virginian-Pilot
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1921-08-08)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1921-08-13)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1921-08-20)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1921-08-04)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1921-08-04)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1921-08-06)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1921-08-06)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1921-08-18)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1921-08-19)