A Heinous Crime

A white man is arrested after he assaults a woman, and Mitchell calls for the “Richmond Dispatch and journals of its ilk to condemn the crime.”

Joseph Beard (white) attempted to criminally assault the wife of Dr. H. E. Campbell, Wednesday night, at 8 o’clock on the Monticello Road, near Moore’s Creek in the neighborhood of Charlottesville. A lady who was with Mrs. Campbell gave the alarm which brought Dr. Campbell to the scene.
The man had to be beaten off. He was arrested and placed in the Charlottesville jail.
The preliminary hearing resulted in his being sent on the grand jury. The prisoner pleaded guilty. What are we to do with these lecherous white men who commit these heinous crimes? It is the duty of the Richmond Dispatch and journals of its ilk to condemn the crime and all other white journals who uphold lynchings will proceed to argue against the law having its course.
This man, according to their reasoning should be lynched at once. Let any colored or white men undertake the job and see if either the penitentiary or the gibbet will be staring them in the face.
Oh, the race and the color make a world of difference in Virginia!

“A Heinous Crime,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 20, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1726.