Victim ID: VA1926081501
Victim Name: Raymond Byrd
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 31
Job: Farm hand
Method of Death: Shot, beaten and hanged
Accusation: Criminal assault on a 19 year-old white girl
Date: 1926-08-15
City: Wytheville
Mob Composition: 50 masked, armed men

Summary: A mob of 50 masked men lynched Raymond Byrd, a 31-year-old black farm hand, on August 15^th, 1926 in Wytheville. The mob shot him dead inside his cell and then hanged his body. Byrd was accused of assaulting a young white girl.

Around August 10^th, 1926, Raymond Byrd, sometimes referred to as Raymond Bird, was arrested for the assault on the 19 years-old daughter of a Wythe County farmer, and put in jail in Wytheville (Danville Bee). A masked mob of about 50 men entered the Wytheville jail early in the morning of August 15^th by putting on a ruse; once the masked mob found Byrd, they brutally beat him up and shot dead in his cell. The mob then took Byrd’s body, tied it to an automobile and dragged it for 12 miles to the scene of the alleged crime, where they hanged his body to a tree (Norfolk Journal and Guide). Byrd’s death certificate indicates that he was married to Lena Hawkins and that the cause of death was “By being killed by mob in Wytheville jail.” Both black and white newspapers condemned the lynching and urged authorities to identify and punish the lynchers (Norfolk Journal and Guide).

A special grand jury was empaneled in Wytheville to investigate the murder of Raymond Byrd. Many witnesses were questioned and it took some time before they got the name of one individual to arrest. On September 6^th, 1926, Herbert Huddle was arrested in Bluefield in connection with the lynching, as his initials were carved in the tree where Byrd was hanged (Harrisonburg Daily News Record), but was later released (Danville Bee). On September 9^th, Governor Harry Byrd offered a $1,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of any member of the mob responsible for the lynching of Raymond Byrd (Harrisonburg Daily News-Record). A special grand jury indicted Floyd Willard for the killing of Raymond Byrd on January 13^th, 1927, but no other member of the mob was indicted (Danville Bee). In July 1927, Willard was acquitted, the jury returning its verdict after ten minutes of deliberation (Roanoke Times).

In 2020, John Johnson, in collaboration with the Town of Wytheville, erected an historical marker to memorialize the lynching of Raymond Byrd. The marker reads: “On the night of August 15, 1926, a mob of rowdy Wythe County citizens forced their way into the Wythe County jail that stood on this site until 1928. Overpowering the county jailer, the mob breached the cell in which a black man, Raymond Arthur Byrd, was incarcerated. The mob pulled Byrd from his cell into the hallway, where he was brutally beaten and shot. Next, they tied his lifeless body behind a waiting automobile and dragged it approximately six-hundred yards. It was then put inside the automobile and taken a distance west of town to be hung from a tree and mutilated. The brutality of the lynching of Raymond Byrd resulted in public pressure on Virginia officials to pass legislation that would outlaw lynching on a statewide basis. On March 14, 1928, Virginia Governor Harry F. Byrd Sr. signed into law the strictest anti-lynching measure in the nation, the first to make lynching a state crime.” For a detailed investigation of this lynching you can read John Johnson’s book A Death Mob Gathered and the 2019 Washington Post article “The Keeper of the Secret” by Stephanie McCrummen.

Archival Sources: Death Certificate

News Coverage: Danville Bee, Harrisonburg Daily News-Record, Norfolk Journal and Guide, Richmond Planet, Roanoke Times

Article Link (from Danville Bee published on 1926-08-16)
Article Link (from Danville Bee published on 1926-08-31)
Article Link (from Danville Bee published on 1927-01-13)
Article Link (from Danville Bee published on 1927-09-12)
Article Link (from Harrisonburg Daily News published on 1926-08-26)
Article Link (from Harrisonburg Daily News published on 1926-08-31)
Article Link (from Harrisonburg Daily News published on 1926-09-02)
Article Link (from Harrisonburg Daily News published on 1926-09-03)
Article Link (from Harrisonburg Daily News published on 1926-09-04)
Article Link (from Harrisonburg Daily News published on 1926-09-07)
Article Link (from Harrisonburg Daily News published on 1926-09-10)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1926-09-04)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1926-09-11)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1926-09-18)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1926-09-25)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1926-09-11)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1926-07-23)