The Crime of the Century

A white mob lynches a black man while a crowd of “about 6000 people” witness the gruesome spectacle.

It is time for the United States Government to call the attention of the states to the violation of that Article of the Federal Constitution which provides that cruel and unusual punishment shall not be resorted to. This time Henry Noles (colored) charged with assaulting and shooting ot death Mrs. Charles Williams (white) was taken from the officers of the law at Winchester, Tenn., Sunday August 25th, 1901 and carried to the scene of the alleged crime where he was burned at the stake. About 6000 people are said to have witnessed the execution. It should not be forgotten that Noles was not charged with criminal assault. The surprising part about the affair was that the appeal for the observance of the law was made by Judge J. J. Lynch, Capt. W. P. Tolley, Assistant Attorney-General N. M. Whittaker and the sheriff of the county. Despite all this, he was hurried away and burned at the stake. What excuse can be offered? His conviction was a foregone conclusion and yet the mob with the delight of demons went back to the tortures of the Middle Ages and burned him. Will the American people longer tolerate these infractions of the law? Will they stand mute while the Governor of Tennessee permits this atrocious crime to take place within the confines of his state? Noles’ crime was bad enough, but it was no worse than the one with which his murderers now stand charged. Such outrages are brutalizing to the communities in which they occur and emphasize the fact that lynch-law must go and the lynchers with it.

“The Crime of the Century,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed April 27, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/836.