Murdered A Colored Man

Shockingly, a white jury finds a white man guilty of killing a black man as John Mitchell Jr. exclaims, “Putting a white man in the penitentiary for killing a Negro? Jehosephat, but aren’t times changing?”

Strange things are happening in Virginia. John Hitchcock, a white man charged with the murder of Robert McAllister, a colored man, at the almshouse, Petersburg, Va., last June, was found guilty on Tuesday, July 30, 1901, in the Hustings Court and his punishment fixed at eighteen years in the penitentiary. Hitchcock and McAllister were inmates of the almshouse. The former became jealous of the latter on the account of the fact that McAllister was attentive to one of the white female inmates. He threatened the colored man’s life. On the afternoon of June 13th, 1901, Hitchcock borrowed a gun to hunt rabbits and kept it until night. When the aged, colored man went toward the gate, Hitchcock fired on him, killing him almost instantly. When charged with the offense he said, “Prove it if you can, no one saw me shoot him.” The commonwealth was represented by its Attorney, Mr. R. H. Mann, and the defense by James M. Quick, Jr, both white. The jury which was composed of white men returned a verdict in about an hour. This will be indeed a revelation to many people and brings to mind the saying, “Justice may sleep, but never dies.” These are white men in Virginia who will do their sworn duty regardless of environments of race prejudice. Getting Hitchcock convicted is one thing, and getting him into the penitentiary is another. When the prison doors slam, with him on the inside, we shall notify our readers of the fact. Putting a white man in the penitentiary for killing a Negro? Jehosephat, but aren’t times changing? Good Lord deliver us!

“Murdered A Colored Man,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed September 14, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/815.