Victim ID: VA1923101201
Victim Name: Horace Carter
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 47
Job: Milling
Method of Death: Shot
Accusation: Attacking a white woman
Date: 1923-10-12
City: King and Queen Court House
Mob Composition: About ten men
Summary: On October 12th, 1923 a 47-year-old black man, Horace Carter, was lynched on the accusation of attacking a white woman in King and Queen County.
Horace Carter was arrested 0n October 12th, 1923, by officers Mann and Jones, charged with attacking a white woman a year earlier. While on their way to the King and Queen Court House jail, a party of about ten white men came to take Horace Carter, intercepting the police car about half mile from their destination. When the mob insisted on overtaking the car, they told Mann and Jones to beat it towards the next county, according to court papers. After the party gained custody of Carter, they shot him 10 times, 5 in the face, 4 in the chest and 1 in the back. Mann and Jones testified that when they left the scene they heard multiple gunshots firing in the distance; while they were walking away, the cars that had ambushed them were coming fast up on them and passed them on the road. When Mann and Jones went back to retrieve the car, Carter’s body had disappeared, and later found in a ditch nearby. The Coroner’s Inquisition concluded that “Horace Carter came to his death by bullet wounds inflicted in the hands of parties unknown.” The death certificate indicates that Horace Carter was 47 years old and married. The Norfolk Journal and Guide accused the authorities of King and Queen County of ‘wilful negligence’ in failing to protect Carter from the mob, while the Richmond Planet called the lynching a disgrace to Virginia. Several other newspapers also condemned the lynching and asked for the lynchers to be punished.
On October 17th, 1923, Governor Trinkle appointed Judge Clement to preside at the special term of court to investigate the lynching of Horace Carter. The special grand jury heard from 47 witnesses over several days; however, on October 25th, the jury was unable to identify any of the members of the lynching party, and was dismissed (Danville Bee).
In occasion of the 100th anniversary of the lynching of Horace Carter, an historical marker was dedicated in King and Queen Court House. The marker reads: “James Horace Carter, a 45-year-old African American husband and father, was lynched on 12 Oct. 1923 a mile southeast of here. Two weeks before the lynching, a white woman had admitted that Carter was the father of one of her children. He was charged with rape and arrested. While being driven by officers to the King and Queen County jail, a mob seized him from the car, shot him ten times (five in the face, four in the chest, and one in the back) while he was still shackled, and left his body in a ditch. Gov. E. Lee Trinkle offered assistance and the case was widely reported, but no one was prosecuted for the murder. The woman’s husband later used her admission of adultery as grounds for divorce.”
Archival Sources: Death Certificate, Court Papers
News Coverage: Covington Virginian, Daily Press, Daily Star, Danville Bee, Ledger-Star, Norfolk Journal and Guide, Richmond Planet, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post
Article Link (from Danville Bee published on 1923-10-13)
Article Link (from Danville Bee published on 1923-10-17)
Article Link (from Danville Bee published on 1923-10-26)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1923-10-20)
Article Link (from Richmond Planet published on 1923-10-20)