A Disgraceful Sight

A deputy sheriff brutally parades a black criminal through the streets of Waynesborough, Mississippi.

A Negro handcuffed and led through the streets with a rope about his neck by J.C. Green, a deputy sheriff of Waynesborough, Miss., was the disgraceful sight witnessed yesterday. The prisoner was Charles Smith, who is wanted in Waynesborough for highway robbery, and was captured at Baton Rouge.
The deputy sheriff not only handcuffed his prisoner and ties a rope around his neck, but exposed his pistol in full view, which also had a tendency to make people think the prisoner was one of the most desperate criminals in existence. The prisoner was lodged in the parish prison for safe keeping – Picayune 27th.
We reproduce the above to show the bloodthirsty brutes in official garb in Mississippi. While upon this subject, we were told by a reliable party from Vicksburg that during the recent overflow in that section, three Negro women; averaging 107 years of age each, were brought to that city from Davis’ Bend who did not know anything of the emancipation, having been in slavery in the backwoods of Mississippi. If this state of affairs exist within a few miles of Vicksburg, can the Picayune wonder at the brutal conduct of deputy sheriff J.C. Green? – New Orleans Leader.

“A Disgraceful Sight,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed December 7, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1170.