George Black (Lynching of)

Farmer George Black, age seventy-three, was mortally wounded by a group of whitecappers in Craighead County on April 1, 1893.

The Arkansas Gazette reported that, on April 1, 1893, “between 10 and 11 o’clock that night Wm. Metcalf…and other unknown parties went to the house of Geo. Black, a half-breed Spaniard, knocked on his door and told him they had come for him.” When Black refused to let them in, the group broke into his house and Black shot Metcalf in the chest. The others “returned the fire and mortally wounded Black,” who “crawled to the public road…where he was found in a dying condition by a party of negroes.”

Black died the next day after saying that he had recognized Metcalf but none of the other attackers. Metcalf was taken to his home in Jonesboro (Craighead County), where he died of his wounds on April 3, refusing to identify the other men who attacked Black with him.

Authorities arrested Charles Henson on the same day, and he admitted being one of the whitecappers and implicated Bera Ray, Al and George Counts (sometimes reported as Counce), Kelley Payne, John Burrows, James Ballentine, and Captain Les J. Ware, “one of the prominent attorneys of the Jonesboro bar.” The Gazette reported that Black “had brought in some negroes to work on his place, and they wanted to run him and the negroes out of the country.”

Metcalf and the others made up “a regularly organized band, gotten up primarily for the purpose of ridding the community of objectionable characters.” A coroner’s inquest found that the band killed Black, and “all of the parties have been committed to jail without bail,” though on April 7 a judge set a $5,000 bail for Ware and $2,500 bail for each of the others and they were freed.

However, in October 1893, a grand jury indicted all of the men on murder charges, and they were rearrested and jailed. Henson turned state’s evidence, apparently testifying against Ware when he was tried in March 1894, a year after the attack on Black’s home. After deliberating for two days, the jury found Ware guilty and sentenced him to two years in the state penitentiary. He reported to prison on August 28, 1894, after the Arkansas Supreme Court refused to reverse his sentence. Governor James Paul Clarke pardoned Ware on April 23, 1895.

Al Counts was granted a change of venue to Greene County, where a Paragould (Greene County) jury acquitted him on February 22, 1895. Prosecutors dropped the charges against Ballentine, Burrows, Ray, and Payne in March 1895. George Counts got a change of venue to Clay County in September 1894, and a Monette (Craighead County) newspaper reported in August 1895 that he would likely be tried in the August circuit court term in Piggott (Clay County), but no newspaper accounts of a trial appear to exist.

For additional information:
“Arkansas State News.” Forrest City Times, April 14, 1893, p. 5.

“Attorney Ware Pardoned.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 24, 1895, p. 3.

“Circuit Court.” Monette Weekly Sun, September 27, 1894, p. 3.

“Court News.” Monette Weekly Sun, March 21, 1895, p. 2.

“A Double Tragedy.” Forrest City Times, April 7, 1893, p. 5.

“A Double Tragedy at Jonesboro.” Arkansas Gazette, April 4, 1893, p. 6.

“End of Famous Trial.” Arkansas Gazette, February 23, 1895, p. 5.

“Jonesboro White Caps.” Arkansas Gazette, April 5, 1893, p. 2.

Monette Weekly Sun, August 22, 1895, p. 3, col. 4.

“State News.” Arkansas Gazette, March 4, 1894, p. 1.

“Two Noted Criminals.” Arkansas Gazette, August 29, 1894, p. 5.

“White Cappers Indicted for Murder.” Forrest City Times, October 13, 1893, p. 4.