Victim ID: VA1900120601
Victim Name: Daniel Long
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 23
Job: Unknown
Method of Death: Riddled with bullets
Accusation: Criminal assault on a married white woman
Date: 1900-12-06
City: Ivanhoe
Mob Composition: About 100-200 masked men
Summary: Daniel Long, a 23-year-old African American man, was lynched on December 6th, 1900, in Wythe County. He was accused of criminally assaulting a white woman.
In the afternoon of December 6th, 1900, Mrs. Robert Fisher was allegedly assaulted by Daniel Long in Wythe County. According to the Alexandria Gazette, “The whole countryside was soon aroused and Thursday night Long was arrested by officers at his home in Ivanhoe, a mining town three miles from the scene of the outrage.” The officers also arrested Lewis Hall, another African American man that was with Long; both men were brought before Mrs. Fisher who identified Long as the assailant. On their way back to jail, “an undisguised crowd of about one hundred men took Long from them, and, after allowing him time to pray, attempted to hang him to a limb of a tree. The rope broke twice, and then the negro was tied to a tree and shot to death” (Alexandria Gazette). In his confession, Long also implicated Lewis Hall, claiming Hall was watching for him. Hall would have been likely lynched too, but a prominent farmer, Thomas Blair, pleaded for him: “A compromise verdict was reached in the case of Hall, the crowd tearing his clothes from his body and whipping him unmercifully” (Alexandria Gazette). The Roanoke Times instead reported that about 200 masked men took Long from the officers and lynched him, while the guards were able to save Hall.
News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Roanoke Times, Virginian-Pilot
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1900-12-08)
Article Link (from Virginian-Pilot published on 1900-12-08)