George Armwood
George Armwood, a Black man, was being held in the Princess Anne jail in Somerset County, Maryland, when a mob of more than a thousand people came for him on the night of October 18, 1933. According to the accounts, state police guarding the jail were driven back, though the reports differ on whether they were overwhelmed or first repulsed with tear gas, and the mob broke through the steel doors, dragged him into the street and hanged him from a tree near the town limits. The mob then burned his body on the main business corner, and Governor Albert C. Ritchie placed responsibility on the local judge and state's attorney and ordered action against those who took part. A coroner's inquest heard about 30 witnesses, none of whom could identify anyone in the mob, and the attorney general later named nine men, but the state's attorney declined to arrest them until a grand jury had heard the evidence.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob of more than a thousand broke into the Princess Anne jail, after state police guarding it were driven back with tear gas, and hanged Armwood from a tree near the town limits.
Reported by: Gov. Albert C. Ritchie; Somerset County coroner's inquest (medical examiner or coroner); news reports.