Wynne Lynching of 1892

On June 29, 1892, an unidentified African-American man was apparently lynched in Wynne (Cross County) for allegedly assaulting a young girl.

Although the New York Sun reported that the girl was black and that the mob was made up of African Americans, the Forrest City Times told a slightly different story. According to the Times, passengers traveling south on the Iron Mountain Railroad reported the “loss” of an African-American man in Wynne on the night of the June 29. The unidentified black man had allegedly tried to assault a six-year-old white girl that morning. The two were found in a closet, and the girl reported what had happened to her. The man was jailed, but the next morning the doors to the jail were found open and the prisoner had disappeared. According to the Times, hinting rather euphemistically that a lynching had occurred without acknowledging the fact, “No one appears to know just what transpired, but it is supposed he accompanied a party of men to the woods and ‘got lost.’”

For additional information:
“Judge Lynch’s Work: Reported Lynching at Wynne.” Forrest City Times, July 1, 1892, p. 2.

“Lynched by Negroes.” New York Sun, July 1, 1892, p. 7.

Nancy Snell Griffith
Davidson, North Carolina