Lynching in Arkansas

A white mob takes Henry Johnson from prison and “hanged [him] in the middle of town”.

Lake Village, Ark., Nov. 4. – Henry Johnson, a negro, was taken from jail here by a mob and hanged in the center of town. The act followed a fight between the whites and blacks early in the day in which Frank Anderson was killed and B. Vinson, a lawyer from Little Rock, and several others were wounded. During the row it is claimed Ed Coleman, a negro, began shooting, which started a fusillade. When it was over the dead and wounded were counted. Coleman fled, with a posse in pursuit. Johnson was locked up. Excitement ran high and a mass meeting of citizens was held, at which observation of law was urged but a larger number of the more excitable rushed to the jail, battered down the doors, secured Johnson and hanged him.

“Lynching in Arkansas,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed May 12, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1555.