Victim ID: VA1900032402
Victim Name: Walter Cotton
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: Unknown
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Hanged and riddled with bullets
Accusation: Murder of two/three white men
Date: 1900-03-24
City: Emporia
Mob Composition: About 1,500, some of them black
Summary: Walter Cotton, an African American man, was lynched together with Brandt O’Grady, a white man, on March 24th, 1900, in Emporia. Cotton was accused of murdering several white men, O’Grady being his accomplice.
On December 26th, 1899, Walter Cotton escaped from Portsmouth Jail (Alexandria Gazette), where he was spending time for the murder of Charles Wyatt, a white man. Cotton was scheduled to be executed by hanging in Portsmouth on January 12th, 1900 (Richmond Dispatch), but remained at large for several weeks, committing robberies and other crimes. Following a robbery in Emporia on the night of March 20th, 1900, Cotton and O’Grady were hiding in a deserted cabin near Skippers, in Greensville County (The Times). On March 22nd, Mr. Saunders, a justice of the peace, and Mr Welton, a constable, went after Cotton and O’Grady: “As the gentlemen got to the door the men in the cabin at once fired on them, and they returned the fire. Messrs. Saunders and Welton were killed instantly, and the two men in the cabin were both wounded” (The Times). While O’Grady was captured immediately and put in jail in Emporia, Cotton was able to escape. Cotton was captured the following morning at Stony Creek, about 20 miles from Emporia, and put under arrest. Cotton had confessed to many crimes committed in the surrounding area and was rumored to have killed at least four men, but possibly many more. After his arrest, he was put in jail in Emporia, where he confessed to have killed Saunders and Welton, implicating O’Grady as his accomplice (Richmond Dispatch). Rumors of a potential lynching for the two men started to spread around Emporia, but eventually died down. Judge Goodwyn and Sheriff Lee had in fact asked Governor Tyler for troops to protect the two prisoners from a potential lynching. Governor Tyler immediately agreed to send the Richmond Blues infantry to Emporia to prevent an attack on the jail by lynching mobs. However, on the morning of March 24th, 1900, Sheriff Lee dismissed the state militia, and, as soon as the troops left Emporia, both Cotton and O’Grady “were hanged to the limb of a tree immediately in front of the courthouse, and only about fifty feet distant from the jail in which they had been incarcerated for a few hours, and as their bodies dangled in the air hoarse cries of delight emanated from the throats of the assembled crowd” (Richmond Dispatch). Cotton’s body was also riddled with bullets. Cotton was lynched first by a crowd of about 1500 people, including some Black people; after Cotton’s lynching, the Black men went back to the jail to get O’Grady: “You have lynched the negro, now give us the white man” they demanded. The Richmond Dispatch also reported that “The officers of the county were witnesses to all of this, but none of them raised their hand or voice to stay the work of the mob. No effort was made to keep the mob from the jail; indeed, the military was sent from the town, in the forenoon, when it was tacitly understood on all sides that as soon as they left the lynching would take place. When a demand was made for the keys to the jail they were secured without delay, and no obstacle was thrown in the way of the mob.”
A grand jury started its investigation of the double lynching on April 2nd, 1900, with thousands of citizens filling the streets of Emporia, as several witnesses were examined (Alexandria Gazette). A witness identified former Judge George P. Barnum as the the leader of the mob; however, the grand jury failed to indict anyone for the double lynching (Richmond Planet).
News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Big Stone Gap Post, Clarke Courier, Highland Recorder, Shenandoah Herald, Staunton Spectator and Vindicator, Tazewell Republican, The Times, Virginia Citizen, Virginian-Pilot
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1900-01-04)
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Article Link (from Big Stone Gap Post published on 1900-03-29)
Article Link (from Clarke Courier published on 1900-03-28)
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Article Link (from Highland Recorder published on 1900-03-30)
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Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1900-03-31)
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Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1900-04-07)
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Article Link (from Shenandoah Herald published on 1900-03-30)
Article Link (from Staunton Spectator and Vindicator published on 1900-03-30)
Article Link (from Tazewell Republican published on 1900-03-29)
Article Link (from The Times published on 1900-01-06)
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Article Link (from The Times published on 1900-08-15)
Article Link (from Virginia Citizen published on 1900-03-30)
Article Link (from Virginian-Pilot published on 1900-01-13)
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Article Link (from Virginian-Pilot published on 1900-04-23)
Article Link (from Virginian-Pilot published on 1900-03-24)
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Article Link (from Virginian-Pilot published on 1900-08-15)