White Man’s Crime

Authorities arrest a white man from a respected district and family for the sexual assault of his own daughter.

Mr. Burge was arrested by Officer Joe Mastin on Mallory St., in Phoebus, while on his route peddling the produce of his farm, on a warrant sworn out by Sheriff Curtis, on complaint of his son, Mr. Ben Burge, a young man highly respected in Hampton. When arrested, he did not express any surprise, but wanted to know if the county would pay him for the time lost while in jail. He did not ask what he was charged with, and evidenced no surprise. When carried to jail he sent for Attorney F. S. Collier, saying he wanted to make his will, and then asked for some laudanum.

Burge had a hearing before Justice Furners at the Court House Thursday morning, when he was confronted by his daughter, Miss Ida Burge. The girl, who is quite pretty, told her story and it a pitiful story it was, in a straight-forward way, and as she told of her own father’s inhuman treatment she almost broke down.
From her account her father has been intimate with her since the first of January, committing his crime under threat of punishment, and since then the girl’s life has been a hell on earth.
Burge is fifty-five years old and father of a large family, all of whom are honorable and highly respected by their neighbors. The blow to the family is a terrible one and they have the sympathy of all their friends.

Fox Hill is one of the quietest and most orderly places in Virginia and the report of the arrest of Burge has stirred the citizens of the place as they have never been aroused before.

“White Man’s Crime,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 24, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/97.