Elijah Clark
Elijah Clark, a 20-year-old Black man, was held in the jail at Huntsville, Alabama, on July 23, 1900. Accounts say a mob of about a thousand men surrounded the jail, and that Sheriff Fulgham refused to hand over the keys and was overcome by smoke from burning tar and feathers before the mob used dynamite and broke in. The mob took Clark from his cell, carried him to a grove near Dallas, and hanged him from a limb and shot him. Some accounts say deputies fired on the crowd and that the sheriff defended his prisoner until forced out, while the governor said he would work to bring the mob members to justice.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob of about 1,000 men broke into the Huntsville, Alabama jail on the evening of July 23, 1900, took Elijah Clark and hanged him from a limb in a grove near Dallas, then shot his body.
Reported by: A special report from Huntsville, Ala., as printed in The Savannah Tribune (reporters); Associated Press (reporters); Daily Public Ledger (reporters).
News reports (12)
- San Antonio Daily Light, July 24, 1900, page 1
- Daily Public Ledger, July 24, 1900, page 3
- The Courier-Journal, July 24, 1900, page 5
- The Courier-Journal, July 24, 1900, page 1
- The Times, July 24, 1900, page 2
- Richmond Dispatch, July 24, 1900, page 1
- Greene County Herald, July 27, 1900, page 1
- The Bourbon News, July 27, 1900, page 4
- The Hickman Courier, July 27, 1900, page 3
- The Savannah Tribune, July 28, 1900, page 4
- The Atlanta Constitution, July 30, 1900, page 5
- Crittenden Press, August 2, 1900, page 2