A White Man Commits the ‘Usual Crime’

After they rape a deaf and mute girl, two white men face "a mob of enraged men" and lynching.

Louisville, Ky., August 6 – A Special to the Post from Barboursville, Ky., says: Jack Williams was caught in the mountains near Brush Creek and lynched last night by a mob of enraged men. He and his brother Tom were accused of raping a deaf mute named Viney Bays. Tom Williams was forced to marry his victim. He is now in jail here and there are threats of lynching him before tomorrow. The crime was a shocking one. The girl was brought into court today scantily clad and bare footed. She is in a serious mental and physical condition. There is much indignation.

“A White Man Commits the ‘Usual Crime’,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed September 13, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1197.