March 21, 1904

An argument between a white man and a black man over a game of chance at the river crossing of St. Charles (Arkansas County) escalated to blows and led to the murder of thirteen black males over the course of four days, making the incident possibly one of the deadliest lynchings in American history. In an effort to find the black man (who had fled after having been arrested for assault and informed that he was about to be hanged), a succession of white mobs from nearby communities terrorized the black population of St. Charles. The murderers were never identified in public reports or eyewitness accounts, and the scant surviving evidence in newspapers and manuscripts lists only the victims, not the killers or their motives.