Trial by Mob Court
December 18, 1897
Summary
A mob of two hundred men lynch one black man and force three others to leave the county after a white family is murdered.
Transcription
Three Accused Negros Acquitted, But Ordered to Leave the County.
Wesson, Miss., Dec 10. –The wife and four children of Brown Smith, a planter living in Simpson county, 20 miles from here, were murdered Wednesday night, while the fifth child was terribly injured. Mr. Smith, who is the son of the ex-Representative Edward Smith, went to a nearby town in the afternoon, leaving his family at home. Yesterday morning when he returned he found his wife and five children weltering in their blood, and all apparently dead. An alarm was raised immediately, and the entire neighborhood turned out to hunt for the perpetrator of the foul and bloody crime. Jim Lewis, a negro, was caught and promptly lynched, the mob being satisfied that he was the murderer.
Hazlehurst, Miss., Dec. 13. –In an open field, without a house in sight, on a high hillside, with a crowd of eager men waiting to avenge the terrible murder that has taken place in Lawrence county, in case a conviction was reached by the impromptu court, the three negroes, Giles Berry, Will Powell and Tom W. Allen, were placed on trial for their lives. The negroes were arrested with Lewis, who was lynched Friday, at the time of the original crime, but were released upon their promising to appear next morning as witnesses. They did not put in an appearance when the trial was to begin and search was made for them by the mob. The search was quickly successful, and the negroes were brought back.
There were about 200 men in the mob constituting a committee of the whole for the trial. The mob was very moderate in its mien, and had cooled down considerably from its former frenzy. The negroes maintained their denial of any complicity in the crime with unswerving firmness. The three negroes were finally declared not guilty, but given until Monday to leave the county.
Wesson, Miss., Dec 10. –The wife and four children of Brown Smith, a planter living in Simpson county, 20 miles from here, were murdered Wednesday night, while the fifth child was terribly injured. Mr. Smith, who is the son of the ex-Representative Edward Smith, went to a nearby town in the afternoon, leaving his family at home. Yesterday morning when he returned he found his wife and five children weltering in their blood, and all apparently dead. An alarm was raised immediately, and the entire neighborhood turned out to hunt for the perpetrator of the foul and bloody crime. Jim Lewis, a negro, was caught and promptly lynched, the mob being satisfied that he was the murderer.
Hazlehurst, Miss., Dec. 13. –In an open field, without a house in sight, on a high hillside, with a crowd of eager men waiting to avenge the terrible murder that has taken place in Lawrence county, in case a conviction was reached by the impromptu court, the three negroes, Giles Berry, Will Powell and Tom W. Allen, were placed on trial for their lives. The negroes were arrested with Lewis, who was lynched Friday, at the time of the original crime, but were released upon their promising to appear next morning as witnesses. They did not put in an appearance when the trial was to begin and search was made for them by the mob. The search was quickly successful, and the negroes were brought back.
There were about 200 men in the mob constituting a committee of the whole for the trial. The mob was very moderate in its mien, and had cooled down considerably from its former frenzy. The negroes maintained their denial of any complicity in the crime with unswerving firmness. The three negroes were finally declared not guilty, but given until Monday to leave the county.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Left Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Brian Schrott
Citation
“Trial by Mob Court,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed February 19, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1224.