Victim ID: VA1889110801
Victim Name: Orion Anderson
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 14
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hanged and riddled with bullets
Accusation: Outraged a 17 year-old white girl
Date: 1889-11-08
City: Leesburg
Mob Composition: 100 armed men

Summary: A hundred armed men lynched Orion Anderson, a 14-year-old African American boy, on November 8^th, 1889 in Leesburg, Virginia. Anderson was accused of outraging a 17-year-old white girl.

On Wednesday, November 6^th1889, Miss Leith was returning from the Hamilton Academy, when she was allegedly assaulted by Orion Anderson (often referred in the newspapers as Owen Anderson). Anderson was arrested, but Miss Leith was unable to identify him as the assailant. Anderson was thus released, but “rearrested on circumstantial evidence, and he confessed” (The Daily Times). On November 8^th, 1889, at approximately 1AM, a hundred armed men captured Anderson from his cell and hung him on a derrick in the freight depot. Several bullets were also fired into Anderson’s body. A Coroner’s inquiry was conducted, according to the Evening Star.

In 2019, a Story Marker for Orion Anderson was erected at the site of the lynching, where the Leesburg freight depot used to be located along the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad, in Loudoun County.

News Coverage: Daily Times, Evening Star, Free Lance-Star, National Tribune, Richmond Dispatch, Richmond Planet

Article Link (from Daily Times published on 1889-11-09)
Article Link (from Evening Star published on 1889-11-08)
Article Link (from National Tribune published on 1889-11-14)
Article Link (from Richmond Dispatch published on 1889-11-09)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1889-11-16)