CHAPTER IX
LYNCHINGS, SOUTH AND NORTH
Most of the studies for this book were made in 1906, 1907, and 1908, but I investigated the subject of lynching, South and North, in the fall of 1904. Since that time the feeling against mob-vengeance has been gaining strength throughout the country and the number of lynchings has been steadily decreasing. But the number is still appalling and many recent cases, especially in the black belt, have been accompanied by brutal excesses. My studies made four years ago are typical of present conditions; I have, indeed, confirmed them by a somewhat careful examination made last year (1907) of two or three recent cases.
Lynch-law reached its height in the late eighties and early nineties. In the sixteen years from 1884 to 1900 the number of persons lynched in the United States was 2,516. Of these 2,080 were in the Southern states and 436 in the North; 1,678 were Negroes and 801 were white men; 2,465 were men and 51 were women. I am here using the accepted (indeed the only) statistics—those collected by the Chicago Tribune. As showing the gradual growth of the sentiment against mob-law I can do no better than to give the record of lynchings for a number of successive years:
| 1891 | 192 | 1900 | 116 | |||
| 1892 | 235 | 1901 | 135 | |||
| 1893 | 200 | 1902 | 96 | |||
| 1894 | 190 | 1903 | 104 | |||
| 1895 | 171 | 1904 | 87 | |||
| 1896 | 131 | 1905 | 66 | |||
| 1897 | 166 | 1906 | 73 | |||
| 1898 | 127 | 1907 | 56 | |||
| 1899 | 107 |
Before I take up the account of specific cases an analysis of the lynchings for the years 1906 and 1907 will help to show in what states mob rule is most often invoked and for what offences lynchings are most common. Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Georgia—the black belt states—are thus seen to have the worst records, and the figures here given do not include the men killed in the Atlanta riot which would add twelve to the Georgia record for 1906:
Following is the comparative number of lynchings for the two years.
| State | 1907 | 1906 | ||
| Alabama | 13 | 5 | ||
| Arkansas | 3 | 4 | ||
| Colorado | — | 1 | ||
| Florida | — | 6 | ||
| Georgia | 6 | 9 | ||
| Indian Territory | 2 | 1 | ||
| Iowa | 1 | — | ||
| Kentucky | 1 | 3 | ||
| Louisiana | 8 | 9 | ||
| Maryland | 2 | 1 | ||
| Mississippi | 12 | 13 | ||
| Missouri | — | 3 | ||
| Nebraska | 1 | — | ||
| North Carolina | — | 5 | ||
| Oklahoma | 2 | — | ||
| South Carolina | 1 | 2 | ||
| Tennessee | 1 | 5 | ||
| Texas | 3 | 6 | ||
| Totals | 56 | 73 |
Of those lynched in 1907, 49 were Negro men, three Negro women and four white men. By methods:
| Hanging | 31 | |
| Shot to death | 17 | |
| Hanged and shot | 3 | |
| Shot and burned | 2 | |
| Beaten to death | 1 | |
| Kicked to death | 1 |