Three Documented Lynchings in Harford County

Since early 2019, members of the Harford County Committee of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project have been conducting research on racial terror lynchings in Harford County.  There are three known, documented lynchings which occurred in Harford County, as well some unsuccessful lynching attempts. None of the men who were lynched were tried for their alleged crimes, nor was anyone ever charged for these mob killings. We are continuing our research efforts in order to find more details about these men's lives and the circumstances surrounding their deaths. We also hope identify and contact any descendants and offer them an opportunity to participate in our events and programs to honor and memorialize them. 

Isaac Moore, July 22,1868

On July 22, 1868, an African American man named Isaac Moore was arrested for allegedly assaulting and robbing a young woman earlier in the day. Moore was seized by the mob that afternoon while being taken by the sheriff and his deputies to a hearing before the magistrate in the courthouse across the street from the jail. With a noose placed around his neck, the mob carried him almost a mile away to the site of the alleged attack on the Churchville Road near Bynum Run, and according to one account, “... hung him on a limb of a tree over the road perfectly naked, he having had his clothes torn off him in his desperate struggle to escape.”

Jim Quinn, October 2, 1869

On the night of October 2, 1869, a young 18 year old African American man named Jim Quinn was taken from a train in White Hall, Baltimore County, by a band of about 30 men on horseback as he was being transported to the county jail in Towsontown. He had been arrested after being accused of brutally assaulting an elderly woman named Miss Smith on September 28, when she was visiting friends near Jarresttville . The men who seized Quinn off the train claimed that they were taking him to the Harford County jail in Bel Air. Instead, according to an article in The Sun, “...he was taken to the Harford and Baltimore county line, where the lynchers hanged him to the first convenient tree without even the vaguest form of a trial.” His body was left hanging until about noon the next day, when it was cut down and buried in the neighborhood.

Lewis Harris, March 26, 1900

Late on the night of March 26, 1900, a 26 year old African American man named Lewis Harris was dragged from his jail cell and hanged by a lynch mob in Bel Air. He had been arrested and accused the day before of an assault on Miss Anne McIlvaine, a 57 year old woman who lived alone in a house on the edge of the town. Despite rumors that a lynching might occur, Harris was not moved to a jail in Baltimore for safekeeping. In front of a large crowd of onlookers, an armed band of around 20 men began firing on the sheriff’s house at around 10 PM. Two men in the crowd were wounded in the the attack. During the gunfight another group went around back to the jail, broke down the door, and located Harris. He was taken to the gates of the Archer mansion on the edge of town, where he was hanged from a tree and then shot. An inquest performed the next day determined that he died “at the hands of persons unknown .” No one was ever held accountable for the lynching.

This is the story of the racial terror lynching of Howard Cooper that occurred in Towson (Baltimore County) MD in 1885. Cooper's is one of at least 41 lynchings known to have occurred in Maryland between 1854 and 1933.

A video by Pennant Productions, Ltd.

Members of the Harford County Committee Attend Marker Dedication in Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS, Sept. 7, 2019 -- Saturday morning the first Equal Justice Initiative historical marker in Maryland was unveiled at Whitmore Park. The marker, part of the remembrance and reconciliation project, recalls a tragic story from our past, the lynching of five African-American men in Anne Arundel County. Their names were John Sims, George Briscoe, Wright Smith, Henry Davis, and King Johnson. The unveiling took place on Calvert Street across from the former site of the Anne Arundel County Jail. Henry Davis was forcibly removed from the jail by a mob, dragged through the streets, and lynched in 1906.

Following the ceremony, everyone was invited to the Asbury United Methodist Church for refreshments and a discussion about equal justice. Connecting the Dots Anne Arundel County in partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative, the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, and others worked to host the program. On this beautiful Saturday in late summer, a large group of people from various groups and the community came together for remembrance and reflection. It was estimated that about 300 people attended the event.

The first EJI marker in Maryland acknowledges the lynching of at least five black men in Anne Arundel County. For more information on Connecting the Dots check out this link.

For additional Annapolis photos visit this link

The Harford County Courthouse

The Harford County Courthouse in the spring (Source:  Mike Dixon, April 26, 2016)

An early spring event at the Harford County Courthouse  (Source:  Mike Dixon, March 31, 2019)

Remembrance Ceremony & Soil Collection Canceled

The Remembrance Ceremony subcommittee chaired by Roxann Redd-Wallace had scheduled the Harford County Soil Collection event for Saturday, March 28, 2020.  But the COVID-19 Pandemic has affected countries all over the world including here in Harford County.  As a result, the Remembrance Ceremony is postponed until further notice. We will notify you when we have rescheduled the Ceremony.

To continue to support our efforts, donations can still be made by going to  https://www.mdlynchingmemorial.org/ and scrolling down to the Harford County link on the right, which will ensure your donation comes to HarCo MLMP.  We appreciate your continued support and ask that you take the necessary steps to safeguard your health and that of your loved ones.

The Harford County Courthouse on a snowy November day (Source:  Kyle Dixon, Nov. 26, 2014)

Committee Documents Tragic Harford County Crimes

The research committee spearheaded by Lisa Tuzo has researched this tragic period in Harford County.  Working with newspapers, criminal justice records, coroner's reports, and family history sources, the committee has documented the following occurrences:

• Issac Moore, died July 22, 1868
• Jim Quinn, died Oct. 2, 1869
• Lewis Harris, died March 26, 1900

  

A map of Harford Co., Maryland, 1858. by Herrick, L. W. (Source:  Library of Congress  https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3843h.la000294/?r=-0.583,0.154,2.166,0.964,0)

 

Cecil County Lynchings - A Dark Chapter in the Past

The Maryland Lynching Memorial Project is working to open a discussion about a violent chapter in Maryland’s past, racial terror lynchings.  These troubling incidents have not generally been studied or documented so little is know about this grim history.  Thus, the project is working to address this gap in our understanding of these episodes of mob violence. 

In Cecil County, local knowledge of these tragic events was not brought down to the twentieth century, the subject not being taken up by local historians, journalists, or heritage groups.   As memory of the  19^th-century episodes quickly faded and one generation gave way to another, the narratives related to the troubling violence hastily disappeared from the collective memory and history.

One of the goals of the Harford County Committee is to urge the formation of a committee for Cecil County.  Thus the committee did research to answer questions focused on how many killings occurred there and develop historical narratives associated with mob violence.  The investigation concluded that at least two lynchings occurred in Cecil County.

• On September 26, 1861, an enslaved 14-years-old-boy belonging to Capt. Matthew Carroll Pearce was arrested near Cecilton (perhaps the Earleville area) for allegedly attempting to rape a young 14-year-old girl.  He was arrested and taken to Cecilton where one newspaper reported that the matter was investigated.  He was then taken to a tree in the vicinity of the act and hung.  Another narrative reports that the citizens of Cecilton seized Frederick and hanged him from the nearest tree.  The location of this extrajudicial hanging was between Cecilton and Earleville, in Sassafras Neck.
• Around the 9 o’clock hour on the evening of July 29, 1872, John Jones was taken from the custody of a special constable and lynched, alongside the old Telegraph Road a short distance south of the community of Pivot Bridge on the C & D Canal.  When the Cecil County Sheriff and Deputy arrived early the next morning, Jones was found swinging from a small hickory tree near a fruit farm.  The coroner’s jury rendered a verdict of “death by hanging at the hands of persons unknown to the jury.”  This remains an unsolved murder.  The location of the 1872 murder is on the old telegraph road not too far south of the present-day Bethel Cemetery along the C & D Canal.  At the time of the incident, there was a small village on the canal known as Pivot Bridge. 

Click here for a full post on Cecil County Lynchings

A Push for Rememberance of Lynching Victims and Reconcilitation During Event at Harford Community College

Baltimore Sun, March 28, 2019
by David Anderson

Many families in the U.S., whose ancestors were victims of racially motivated lynchings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, still carry the trauma of those lynchings, generations after they happened.

Karla Wynn, who attended a public meeting Wednesday evening in the Student Center at Harford Community College to cover the history of lynchings in Maryland and remember the victims, said many families whose ancestors were lynched do not talk about it, even today.

The article continues on the Baltimore Sun. 

Harford County Memorial Project Meets for the First Time.

HARFORD COMMUNITY COLLEGE, March 25, 2019 -- Wednesday evening, the Harford County Committee of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project met to discuss the importance of acknowledging the history of racial terrorism in Harford County. The meeting explored ideas for community remembrance projects as a way to begin the process of healing and reconciliation. Dr. Iris Barnes, the curator of the Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum at Morgan State University and the chair of the Harford County Committee, welcomed about 40 guests to the meeting. The names of victims in lynchings in Harford County were read and there was a moment of silence: Isaac Moore in Bel Air on July 22, 1868; An unknown victim in August 1868; Jim Quinn in White Hall on October 2, 1869; and Lewis Harris in Bel Air on March 27, 1900. For more information on the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project check out this Facebook page. 

For additional photographs of the first meeting check out this Facebook page. 

Will Schwarz, chairman of the state committee, welcomes the audience

Dr. Iris Barnes, chair for the Harford County Committee, welcomes about 40 people to the first meeting.

Harford County Community College's Dr. Stephanie Hacllock offers remarks.

 

Beginning the Journey From Truth to Reconciliation: The Harford County Committee

Between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War II, more than 5,000 black Americans were victims of racial terror lynchings in the United States. No fewer than 40 of these crimes were committed in Maryland, including at least four in Harford County

As part of beginning a journey from truth to reconciliation, the Harford County Committee of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project first met on March 27, 2019, to discuss the importance of acknowledging the history of racial terrorism in our county. The Committee explored ideas for community remembrance projects as a way to begin the process of healing and reconciliation. The program included two short films, presentations and community discussion, and complimentary literature from the Equal Justice Initiative was available.

On this evening at the end of March 2019, a large group of interested stakeholders attended the first public to discuss lynching in Harford County, along with the importance of acknowledging the history of racial terror, pay respect to the victims, and their families, and explore ideas for community remembrance projects as a way to begin the process of healing.  

Out of this initial meeting on March 27, 2019, a group of volunteers agreed to form the Harford County Committee to complete the journey from truth to reconcilitation.