Lynching of Jessie Washington

January 06, 2019

Lynching of Jessie Washington

This was another case of a Black man accused of raping and killing a White woman. If he actually did those things… we will never know because he wasn't given a fair trial.

But once they were satisfied that he was guilty he was…

Beaten
Dragged on the ground through town by a chain around his neck
Beaten some more for good measure
Stabbed a few times
Doused in oil as they lit a bonfire
Tied to a tree
Had his fingers, toes and penis cut off by men, women and children who kept them as souvenirs
Was repeatedly lowered and raised over the fire for 2 hours for the enjoyment of the crowd

Seeing as they made sure he didn't die right away, the crowd got enjoyment from watching him continuously attempt to climb up from the fire. Of course, with no fingers or toes… this was an impossible task.

So he slow roasted for 2 hours before his body finally gave out on him.

After he died, some of the 2000+ attendees, (who weren't content with the pictures they took and would later sell as postcards), began to take other body parts from him.

At this point the good stuff had already been picked though (the fingers, toes and penis).

So the White kids had to satisfy themselves with kicking the teeth out of his mouth and keeping those.

After they finished pillaging his broken body for mementos and keepsakes, they proudly dragged him through town a few times to make sure that all the Blacks there got a good look at their tax dollars at work (yes the police were involved). Then they displayed their handiwork publicly for a day until they got bored and allowed the family to bury what little was left of his charred body.

They were kind enough to have a professional photographer memorialize the event with pictures.