Duckett Township Lynching of 1919

On Wednesday, August 10, 1919, an unknown African American man was killed by an unnamed officer in Duckett Township in northern Howard County after a “thrilling weekend man hunt” across southern Polk and northern Howard counties, where no Black people lived.

This man had allegedly committed “an awful crime” against a seven-year-old girl in broad daylight in Sevier County, 3.5 miles southwest of De Queen (Sevier County), and then fled north. He “was the only one of his color in the county he so vainly sought to find cover in, and was shot at and harassed at every turn he made.” His death certificate gave his occupation as “horse theft.” Between 50 and 100 white men chased him in a “thrilling weekend man hunt throughout the south end of Polk County until brought to a grim conclusion three days later on the river’s bank on the edge of Howard County.” An officer shot him “at least 6 times in Body.”

His body was sent to De Queen, where it was not buried but burned, “a mob of angry citizens having determined, it was said, to burn it.” The De Queen Bee claimed that “there was no passionate outburst of race hatred,” and the crowd had “only an overwhelming desire to punish the criminal, to express the abhorrance [sic] of such a crime…, and to sound a warning that [future similar crimes] would be met with punishment, certain, swift and terrible.” The De Queen Bee bragged about the lack of race riots, which it expected would have happened in “larger cities where the press has been so vehement in the criticism of the treatment of the negro in the south.” The De Queen Bee reported that the body was first identified by the victim and five others (including two Black people) who had seen him beforehand.

This lynching seemed to have little impact in the community and surrounding area beyond the effect on the seven-year-old girl and the dead man’s family. A few Black men were arrested at the time and then released in Haworth and Broken Bow (McCurtain County, Oklahoma). J. W. Johnson’s Virginia Minstrels were encouraged to skip their De Queen performance, and they did.

Black and white relations in the area were not smooth, however. The De Queen Bee also reported that, after this lynching was completed, a dozen white men went to “the negro quarters” of De Queen the next Saturday, hoping to run them out of town. Eight of these white men were arrested and bound over to the grand jury, charged with robbery and night riding. Also on that Saturday, a white man whipped a Black shoeshine boy for not ceding the sidewalk to white girls and later whipped a Black woman (a local hotel worker) who had threatened the white man with “a large knife.” She and the shoeshine boy left De Queen.

The annual Sevier County Confederate Veterans reunion, including World War I veterans, followed a few days later at the Cossatot River. Both Governor Charles Hillman Brough of Arkansas and Governor James Brooks Ayers Robertson of Oklahoma spoke.

For additional information:
Arkansas Death Certificate 320. Duckett Township, Howard County, Arkansas.

“Big Crowds Attend Confederate Reunion.” De Queen Bee, August 15, 1919, p. 1.

“Black Ravisher Shot to Death.” Mena Weekly Star, August. 14, 1919, p. 1.

Childs, Lisa C. “Forging Community in the Ouachita Foothills of Southwest Arkansas: Duckett Township, Homesteading, Distilling and Race.” MA thesis, University of Arkansas, 2022. Online at https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/4782/ (accessed August 7, 2024).

“Fiendish Crime Perpetrated by Black Demon.” De Queen Bee, August 8, 1919, p. 1.

“Held for Robbery and Night Riding.” De Queen Bee, August 15, 1919, p. 1.

“It Is Creditable to Sevier County.” De Queen Bee, August 15, 1919, p. 3.

“Negro Fugitive Is Shot and Killed.” De Queen Bee, August 15, 1919, p. 1.

“Negroes Whipped.” De Queen Bee, August 15, 1919, p. 1.

“Virginia Minstrels.” De Queen Bee, August 6, 1919, p. 6.

Lisa C. Childs
Fayetteville, Arkansas