Put His Hand on Her

A black man bursts into a white woman’s home demanding money and food, but her husband intervenes, resulting in the intruder’s capture and death.

Last night an unknown colored man entered the house of Mrs. Bush, a white woman, and demanded food and money. The woman told him she had neither at hand. He advanced upon and caught help of her. She screamed for help. Her husband, who was nearby, ran to her rescue, and caught and tied the colored man. A posse started to jail with him. A few miles out a mob overtook them, took the man away and shot him.

“Put His Hand on Her,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 20, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1051.