Charles Smith
Charles Smith was held in the jail at Clayton, North Carolina, in December 1884, where he was one of two Black men in custody. Early on the morning of Wednesday, December 24, 1884, a group of masked men, reported as about one hundred, broke open the jail door and took him and another prisoner, Henry Davis, out on horseback. According to the Delaware Gazette and State Journal, the guards fled without resisting, and the men were taken to a bridge over the Neuse River, bound with chains, and dropped into the water, where they drowned. Some accounts say the guards were overpowered and that the men were tied and chained before being dropped; the Newbern Journal reprint and other papers differ on the jail's name, the date and whether the guards resisted, and no official response is given.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. Historical newspaper reports say a masked mob took Charles Smith and another man from the Clayton-area jail and drowned them by dropping them from a bridge into the Neuse River, and the Newbern Journal reprint reports that no official response was given.
Reported by: Newbern Journal (reprinted account) (reporters); Charlotte Home and Democrat (reporters); Kenosha Telegraph (reporters).
Sources (10)
- The Dallas Daily Herald, December 29, 1884, page 1
- Fort Worth Daily Gazette, December 29, 1884, page 5
- Daily Republican, December 29, 1884, page 1
- The Dallas Weekly Herald, January 1, 1885, page 4
- Delaware Gazette And State Journal, January 1, 1885, page 4
- The Kenosha Telegraph, January 2, 1885, page 1
- St. Landry Democrat, January 3, 1885, page 2
- Charlotte Home And Democrat, January 9, 1885, page 2
- Charlotte Home And Democrat, January 9, 1885, page 1
- Wessington Springs Herald, January 16, 1885, page 2