Victim ID: VA1898071101
Victim Name: John Henry James
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: Unknown
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hanged and riddled with bullets
Accusation: Criminal assault of an unmarried white woman
Date: 1898-07-12
City: Charlottesville
Mob Composition: About 150 unmasked, armed men

Summary: On July 12^th, 1898, John Henry James, an African American man, was lynched near Charlottesville, in Albemarle County, for allegedly assaulting an unmarried white woman.

On July 11^th, 1898, John Henry James was accused of criminally assaulting Miss Julia Hotopp outside of the gate of her home near Charlottesville, when she got off her horse to unlock the gate. He was charged for the assault and arrested. That night he was taken out of the jail and put on a train to be moved to a jail in Staunton for fear of a lynching mob. On the following morning, James was to stand trial in Charlottesville; according to the Alexandria Gazette, “The prisoner left Staunton at 10 o’clock in the morning in charge of Chief of Police Frank Parish and Lucien Watts, sheriff of the county. When the train was nearing Wood’s crossing, about four miles west of Charlottesville, the officers noticed a crowd at the station […]. As soon as the train slowed up a number of men, unmasked, boarded the platforms of the car, front and rear. All were armed with pistols and there seemed to be one hundred and fifty in the crowd.” The mob seized James and when they reached the platform a rope was thrown over James’ neck. James was then carried about 40 yards to a small locust tree; before being hung to the tree, the mob allowed James to pray for 20 minutes. He was then tied up on the tree and when his body was elevated over the crowd he was riddled with bullets. The Shenandoah Herald reported that 75 bullets perforated his body. According to the Richmond Planet, “The body of James was left hanging on the tree about two hours. Hundreds of people visited the scene this afternoon. Many of them gathered relics of the occasion, taking some portions of his clothing, etc.” On the morning of July 13^th, 1898, the Coroner’s Inquisition concluded that John Henry James “came to his death by the hands of persons unknown to the jury” (Daily Progress). A grand jury met after James’ death and handed down a guilty verdict, as if he were still living. The African American newspaper Richmond Planet condemned the lynching, claiming that “Lynchers should be fired upon, and abettors should be placed in the penitentiary. When the law-abiding citizens rally to defend the jails with the same spirit possessed by those who proceed to attack them, lynch-law will go.”

In 2019, the Equal justice Initiative erected an historical marker in Charlottesville dedicated to the lynching of John Henry James. The marker reads: “In 1898, a black man named John Henry James lived and worked in Charlottesville as an ice cream vendor. He had only been a resident of the area for five or six years before July 11th, 1898, when he was falsely accused of assaulting a white woman and arrested. The police transferred Mr. James to Staunton that evening to avoid a potential lynching, but officers escorted him back to Charlottesville the next morning by train. While en route, an armed mob of 150 white men stopped the train at Wood’s Crossing in Albemarle County, and seized Mr. James. Learning of the mob’s attack, a group of black men tried to stop the lynch mob but were outnumbered and forced to retreat. The white mob threw a rope over Mr. James’s neck and dragged him about 40 yards away to a small locust tree. Despite his protest of innocence, the mob hanged Mr. James and riddled his body with dozens of bullets. The Richmond Planet, an African American newspaper, reported that as his body hung for many hours, hundreds more white people streamed by, cutting off pieces of his clothing, body and the locust tree to carry away as souvenirs. The grand jury, interrupted by news of the lynching, issued a posthumous indictment, as if Mr. James were still alive. Despite the presence of the Charlottesville police chief and Albemarle County sheriff, no one was ever charged or held accountable for the murder of John Henry James.” On July 12^th, 2023, the 125^th anniversary of John Henry James’ death, the Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge, Cheryl V. Higgins, dismissed the indictment that was posthumously inflicted to James. “Higgins ruled that the grand jury not only improperly issued the indictment, it did so intentionally, making “a mockery of the judicial system.” The indictment was used “not as an instrument of justice, but as cause to lynch a man simply because he was Black,” Higgins said. “It was used corruptly, to sanction the lynching of John Henry James”” (Charlottesville Tomorrow).

You can find additional information about the lynching of John Henry James here and here.

Archival Sources: Commonwealth Cause

News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Daily Progress, Richmond Planet, Shenandoah Herald, Staunton Spectator and Vindicator, The Times

Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1898-07-13)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1898-07-16)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1898-07-16)
Article Link (from Shenandoah Herald published on 1898-07-15)
Article Link (from Staunton Spectator and Vindicator published on 1898-07-14)
Article Link (from Staunton Spectator and Vindicator published on 1898-07-21)
Article Link (from The Times published on 1898-07-13)