Victim ID: VA1885020501
Victim Name: Jerry (Alvy) Jackson
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 17-20
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Riddled with bullets
Accusation: Murder and robbery of a white man, a tinker
Date: 1885-02-05
County Name: Bland
Mob Composition: Disguised
Summary: Jerry Jackson, an 18-year-old black man, was lynched in Bland, Virginia on February 5th, 1885, accused of murder and robbery of a white man.
On Friday, January 30th, 1885, Jerry or Alvy Jackson ran into a white man, a tinner from Pennsylvania named Perry, four miles from Sharon Springs (Staunton Spectator). The two men stopped to talk and Jackson reportedly went his separate way after a short conversation; allegedly, Jackson also looped back and hid behind Perry in a bush with a musket. Jackson was reported to have shot Perry when he was leaning over to get a drink of water. The bullets entered the body and came out near his throat (Richmond Dispatch). Jackson was then said to have stripped the victim of his clothes and hidden the body in the brush. Two days later, a couple of men came along and found the body. Everything pointed to Jackson for the murder, as he had the dead man’s coat with two shot holes in it, and there was blood on his sleeves. The next Monday, February 2nd, 1885, a crowd grew outside of the Bland Courthouse where lynching was freely discussed and “but for the cool judgment of Hon. James Honaker and others, Jackson would have been lynched on Monday night” (Richmond Dispatch). On the night of February 5th, 1885, about 20 men captured the jailor and took Jerry Jackson at gunpoint. They carried Jackson a few hundred feet from the jail, tied him to a fence and riddled him with bullets. The Richmond Dispatch also reported that the following “morning the citizens of Bland Courthouse en masse refused the coroner the right of sepulture for the body of Alvy Jackson […]. He was buried on Brushy Mountain in a spot remote from the road and dwellings.”
News Coverage: Norfolk Virginian, Richmond Dispatch, Staunton Spectator, Valley Virginian
Article Link (from Richmond Dispatch published on 1885-02-06)
Article Link (from Richmond Dispatch published on 1885-02-10)
Article Link (from Staunton Spectator published on 1885-02-11)