October 19, 1911: Jerry Lovelace

Come along with me on a journey through history. Today we visit Manchester, Georgia through the pages of The Washington Times (Washington, D. C.) dated October 19, 1911:

LYNCHING IN GEORGIA.

MANCHESTER,Ga., Oct. 19.—Without firing a shot or exchanging a blow a mob of thirty men quietly lynched Jerry Lovelace, a colored brakeman, charged with having assaulted Yardmaster Kernan. Half a dozen masked men overpowered Marshal Collier and took the jail keys from him. They ledtheir [sic] victim to Ferndale Park, and hanged him to a tree within ten feet of the sidewalk.

The first article gives us the bare bones and also establishes the date. Our next destination is brought to us through the pages of the Warren Times Mirror (Warren, Pennsylvania) printed October 20, 1911:

NEGRO LYNCHED FOR ASSAULTING MAN.

Taken From Jail and Hanged In Heart of Town.

Manchester, Ga., Oct. 20.—Because he knocked down a white man last night. Jerry Lovelace, a negro, was taken from jail at 2 o'clock this morning and lynched. There were about 30 men in the mob and they took the negro to Ferndale park, in the heart of Manchester, and hanged him.

Last night Lovelace was arrested and jailed on a charge of having assaulted Yardmaster W. F. Kernan of the Atlantic & Birmingham railroad. There was much feeling and after midnight a mob formed, captured City Marshal Collier and secured the jail keys and the officer's gun.

Leaving the marshal bound, the mob unlocked the jail, secured the negro and lynched him. After the lynching the mob returned to Marshal Collier, unbound him and returned the jail keys and his gun.

Manchester is a comparatively new place. It has been extensively advertised and was known as the "model town."

We will round out our journey with an interesting article brought to us by The Allentown Democrat (Allentown, Pennsylvania) printed January 2, 1912:

SIXTY LYNCHINGS DURING YEAR 1911

Out of This Number 58 Were Negroes—Georgia Leads With Seventeen.

Chicago, ill., Jan. 1.—The lynching record for 1911 shows a distinct though slight improvement over the records of previous years. The number of persons lynched since January 1—sixty—is slightly less than that of any recent year. All but two of the sixty persons lynched were negroes. Of the fifty-eight negroes, one was a woman. "The crimes charged against those victims range all the way from insult to criminal assault and murder. Georgia leads with the most lynchings—seventeen. Lynchings occurred in thirteen states. All of these were Southern or border states excepting Pennsylvania, which furnished the only instance of this year where the victim was burned at the stake.

Contrary to records of the previous years the majority of the victims were not accused of crimes against women. The victims accused of attacks on women, numbered eighteen, while thirty-one were accused of murder. Two negroes were lynched for insulting white women, four for attempted murder, one for threatening to murder, one for highway robbery, and one for persistent stealing. Two were charged with plain assault and one was being held in jail as a suspicious character.

In several instances race riots were reported in which both whites and blacks were killed. These are not included in the record of the year. In the following record the word "lynching" has been held to apply only to the summary punishment inicted [sic] by a mob or by any number of citizens on a person alleged to have committed a crime for which in the ordinary course that person would have been tried by law.

The detailed record for 1911 is as follows:

Alabama—(Three: all negroes.) Feb. 12—Eufaula, Iver Peterson, attack on woman. Mch. 11—Pike county, Jackson Walker, criminal attack. April 2.—Union Springs, Aberdine Johnson, criminal attack.

Arkansas—(Two negroes: one white.) Sept. 9.—Augusta, A. Dean, murder. Sept. 27.—Dumas, Charles Malpass (white) murder. Oct. 16.—Forest City, Nathan Lacey, criminal attack.

Florida—(Seven:  all negroes.) Mch. 4.—Cyprss, [sic] Calvin Baker, threat to murder. May 21.—Lake City, six unknown neroes [sic], murder.

Georgia—(Seventeen: al [sic] negroes.) Jan. 22.—Avers, William Johnson, murder. Feb. 24.—Warrentown, Robert Jones, Murder. Feb. 24—Lawrenceville, Charles Hale, criminal attack. April 8.—E'aville Dawson Jordan, murder  April 8.—Ellaville, Murray Durton, murder. May 14.—Swainsboro, Ben Smith, murder. May 22.—Crawfordsville, Joe Moore, murder. June 27.—Monroe, Tom Allen, criminal attack. June 27.—Monroe, Joe Watts, under suspicion. July 11.—Baconton, Will McGriff, murder. Oct. 4.—Baldwins Bridge, unknown negro, criminal attack. Oct. 7.—Irwinton, Andrew Chapman, criminal attack. Oct. 19.—Manchester, Jerry Lovelace, assault to murder. Oct. 28.—Washton, Dave Walker, murder.

Kentucky.—(Three: all negroes) Jan. 15.—Shelbyville, Gene Marshall, murder. Jan. 15.—Shelbyville, Wade Patterson, insulting  white woman. Apr. 20.—Livermore, Will Potter, murder.

Louisianna [sic]—(Four:  all negroes.)  Jan. 30.—Ville Platte, Oval Poulard, attempted murder. Jan. 30.—Slidell, Same Cooley, criminal attack. May 28.—Moeling, Frank Jones, criminal attack. July 24.—Claiborne [P]arish, Myles Taylor. murder.

Mississippi—(Six:  all negroes.) Mch. 25.—Rockport, Will Brown, murder. Bay [sic] 5.—Louisville, Cliff Jones, attempted murder. May 5.—Louisville, Bruce White, attempted murder. June 1.—Shelby, Alfred Johnson( burder. [sic] June 16.—Chunky, William Bradford, attempted murder. Nov. 7.—Lockhart, "Judge" Moseley, assault.

Missouri.—(Two negroes) Oct. 10.—Caruthersville, A. B. Richardson, robbery and assault. Oct. 10.—Carruthersville, Ben Woods, robbery and assault.

Oklahoma.—[(]Seven negroes:  one woman.) May 25.—Okema, Mrs. Mary Nelson, (negress), murder. May 25.—Mrs. Nelson's son, murder. Aug. 13.—Durant, unknown negro, criminal attack. Oct. 22.—Coweta, Ed Suddeth, murder Dec. 3.—Manford, "Bud" Walker, highway robbery. Dec. 5.—Valiant, unknown negro, criminal attack.

Pennsylvania—(One gro.) [sic] Aug. 13.—Coatesville, Zach Walker (burned), murder.

South Carolina—(One negro), Oct. 10.—Honea Path, Willis Jack, criminal attack. [(]One other lynching reported but report not confirmed.)      

Tennessee—Three: [(] all negroes.) May 23.—Gallatin, Jim Sweat, murder. June 1.—White Haven, Pat Crump, criminal attack. June 8.—Lafayette, John Winston, murder.

Texts[sic]—(Three negroes and one white.) June 18.—Thorndale, unknown Mexican youth, murder. Aug. 12.—Farmersville, Commodore Jones, insulting white woman. Oct. 29.—Marshall, Will Ollive, criminal attack. Nov. 6.—Clarksville, Riley Johnson, criminal attack.

Thank you for joining me and as always, I hope I leave you with something to ponder.