Victim ID: VA1904102401
Victim Name: George F. Blount
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 44
Job: Possible owner of a fish stand
Method of Death: Beaten to death and shot
Accusation: Assault on a white police officer
Date: 1904-10-24
City: Berkley
Mob Composition: 5 or 6 men, masked
Summary: Six men shot and killed George F. Blount, a 44-year-old black owner of a fish shop and active in Republican politics, on October 24th,1904, in Berkley. Blount had assaulted a white police officer, but it seems likely that there were also political motives behind his lynching.
On Saturday night, October 22nd, 1904, George Blount refused Policeman Holloman to enter his house to arrest another black man charged with a shooting (Alexandria Gazette). According to the Evening Star, “when Holloman persisted in entering[,] Blount picked up a lighted lamp and struck the officer in the face with it. Holloman was horribly burned and cut, and four teeth were practically knocked out.” A squad of officers and citizens then captured Blount and the other black man and put them in the Berkley police station. As the excitement in Berkley increased, a mob formed on Sunday night; early in the morning of October 24th, 1904, “the mob attacked the jail and seizing Blount carried him into Hardy’s field, only one block away, where he was beaten to death with some blunt instrument and then shot” (Evening Star). However, the Richmond Times-Dispatch rejected the notion that a mob lynched Blount, reporting that a total of six men, some of them masked, were responsible for Blount’s death. According to this account, two masked men took George Blount from the jail while he begged for mercy; a witness, W. W. Robertson, stated that he had seen five men strike George Blount outside his window. Blount’s cries woke Robertson before he was fatally shot (Richmond Times-Dispatch). At the request of the Mayor of Berkley, the Norfolk militia was sent by Governor Montague to prevent a rumored uprising by the local black community. For a few days, Berkley was under martial law. The Evening Star reported that Blount was a noted black Republican leader in Norfolk County, and that “it is admitted by certain white political enemies of the negro Blount that his offensive political doings and influence as against white supremacy was one of the causes which led up to the killing.”
On November 7th, 1904, a grand jury in Norfolk was charged to investigate the lynching of George Blount. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that some “very sensational developments [were] expected to follow the jury’s probing.” A week later the grand jury reconvened and heard several witnesses, including W. W. Robinson; however, at 3 PM the grand jury was dismissed without having made a report and without explanation (Portsmouth Star).
News Coverage: Alexandria Gazette, Evening Star, Free Lance, Norfolk Landmark, Portsmouth Star, Richmond Planet, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Article Link (from Alexandria Gazette published on 1904-10-24)
Article Link (from Evening Star published on 1904-10-24)
Article Link (from Evening Star published on 1904-10-25)
Article Link (from Free Lance published on 1904-10-27)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1904-10-29)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1904-10-25)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1904-10-25)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1904-10-27)
Article Link (from Richmond Times-Dispatch published on 1904-11-08)