The Lynching of Benjamin Thomas (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside historical marker:

The Lynching of Benjamin Thomas
August 8, 1899

Close to midnight on Tuesday, August 8, 1899, Benjamin Thomas, a 16-year-old Black Alexandrian, was lynched from a lamppost on this corner.

Earlier, white rioters attacked the City Jail on N. St. Asaph Street, where they seized and dragged Thomas for a half-mile on a cobblestone street, hitting him with bricks, iron, and stones, as he cried out for his mother. Under the shadow of City Hall and the police station, he was stabbed, kicked, shot, and hanged.

On Monday, August 7, 1899, police had arrested Thomas on the word of an eight-year-old white neighbor and charged him with assaulting her.

When Alexandria's Black community learned of Thomas' arrest, they feared another lynching. Two years earlier, a white mob murdered a local Black teenager, Joseph McCoy, based on similar allegations. Attempting to protect Thomas from such a fate, groups of Black men organized, offering their aid to police. The police and Alexandria's mayor, George Simpson, ridiculed their concerns.

Mayor Simpson stood on the steps of the jail and asked the mob to leave, saying "Fellow citizens, if you will disperse and go away quietly, I will promise you that a court will be convened today.... If this is not done, I will give you my word, as a man of honor, that I will personally lead a mob tomorrow night to lynch Thomas...."

The police arrested many in the Black community that night and the mayor sentenced them to heavy fines or jail time. Yet, no whites were held accountable for the lynching of Benjamin Thomas.

After the brutality inflicted on Thomas, his body was taken to Demaine funeral home on King Street. His mother, Elizabeth Thomas, "could not bear to look upon her boy." At the memorial service at Shiloh Baptist Church, a crowd of 600 people heard Rev. Henry H. Warring proclaim Thomas an honest boy, innocent of the crime that led to his lynching.

After Thomas was interred at Penny Hill Cemetery, the Black community mobilized to assist the Thomas family to raise funds to move his body from a pauper's grave into Douglass Cemetery, but the relocation was not recorded. There is still a question as to the final resting place of Benjamin Thomas.

At this location on August 8, 1899, just before midnight, Benjamin Thomas was lynched.

[Caption:]
Leadbeater Corner, site of the lynching. "It is a dismantled post at the southwest corner of King and Fairfax Streets… The lamp was removed and the iron post permitted to stand when the electric lighting system was installed several years ago. On this post is a United States letter box." Times (Washington, D.C.), August 10, 1899. Photo courtesy Alexandria Special Collections Library.

Erected 2021 by City of Alexandria, Virginia; Alexandria Community Remembrance Project.


<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>

Here follows an excerpt from the Clio Foundation website about the historical marker as written by Ben M.:

Introduction:
On the night of August 8, 1899, a white mob lynched Benjamin Thomas from a lamppost at this intersection. Thomas was a sixteen-year-old African American boy who had been accused of a crime but like other lynching victims, was not convicted of the alleged crime. The lynching occurred shortly after Thomas was arrested and taken to jail for allegedly assaulting Lillia Kloch, a young white girl who lived next door. The mob broke into the jail, seized Thomas. As they dragged him here, they stabbed, shot, and pelted him before hanging him. The event is memorialized by a historical marker affixed to a lamppost located just outside of the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum.

Backstory and Context:
On August 7, Lillia's parents, Edward and Julia, asked her to get back an axe they had lent, apparently, to the Thomas family. She returned without it, however, saying that she did not have it because Thomas attempted to assault her. Julia went to the police who issued a warrant for his arrest (the Baltimore Sun reported that Lillia admitted that Thomas was not violent with her; she just complained about how he treated her).

The African American community became alarmed at the arrest. They had a right to be concerned because two years before, another teenager named James McCoy, was lynched. He was arrested and held in jail awaiting trial for allegedly assaulting a teenaged girl. A white mob broke into the jail on April 22, 1897 (they attempted to brake in the previous night), seized McCoy and beat and shot him before hanging him from a lamppost at Cameron and Lee Streets.

Determined to not let this happen again, around 100 black men organized themselves to protect Thomas. A few had approached the police to warn them that a mob was going to lynch him and to offer help in protecting the jail. The police said the jail was the safest place for Thomas and claimed that his arrest was made quietly. Mayor George Simpson also dismissed the concerns of the men. Despite these assurances, word of the alleged assault had gotten out.

Undeterred, the one hundred or so volunteers stationed themselves in the vicinity of the jail, and agreed to whistle to others if they saw a mob approach. It appears some of them marched on the streets as well. Simpson ordered the police to disperse the volunteers and arrest those who did not leave. A number were arrested. The next day (August 8th), a trial was held during which the police claimed the African American men threatened white citizens. The men claimed they were just trying to protect Thomas and ensure that he would have a fair trial. They were fined and those who could not pay were sent to a chain gang. Thomas was moved to a jail on Asaph and Princess Streets.

Some white residents were still upset and were determined to seek vengeance on their terms. That night, they armed themselves and stormed the jail, easily overwhelmed the guards, found Thomas and wrapped a rope around his neck. As they dragged him they threw stones, bricks and other objects at him, and shot him several times as well. He was hung around midnight. No one was charged for the crime. Around 600 residents attended Thomas' memorial service at Shiloh Baptist Church. He was buried at a pauper's grave but the community raised funds to have his remains reinterred at Douglas Cemetery. The exact location of the grave is unknown.


<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>

Here follows an excerpt from James Madison University's blog "Racial Terror: Lynching in Virginia" which is an ongoing research project examining one of the darkest, yet almost forgotten, pages of American history: the lynching of thousands of people in the US South.

Summary: On August 8th 1899, Benjamin Thomas, a 16-year-old black teenager, also known as Benjamin Thompson, was lynched in Alexandria for allegedly attempting to criminally assault an eight year-old white girl.

On August 7th, 1899, Lilian Clarke, the 8-year-old daughter of Edward and Julia Clarke, told the Alexandria police that she was walking by the house of Benjamin Thomas, when he grabbed her, dragged her inside the house and attempted to assault her, even though he was “not entirely successful” (Evening Star). Benjamin Thomas was arrested and charged for attempting to criminally assault Lilian Clarke (Alexandria Gazette). When the information became generally known to the public, the white community of Alexandria became enraged. On the evening of August 8th, “Chief of Police Webster, with a force of four regular officers and twenty sworn citizens was detailed to guard the prisoner. Meanwhile, as time advanced, the situation became easy to read. Every gunshop and hardware store in town was visited, and in a short while it was impossible to find a spare weapon anywhere. Citizens walked the streets with protruding pockets, and many went so far as to shoulder rifles and shotguns” (Evening Star). Unfounded rumors that “the negroes were arming for combat, fired the whites with a stern determination. About 11 o’clock, as if by premeditated and concerted plan, hundreds of [white] men turned in the direction of the city jail” (Evening Star). A mob of 2,000 white citizens stormed the city jail to capture Benjamin Thomas. The jail was a low stone structure on North St. Asaph Street. The mob completely surrounded the building. Despite several city officials calling upon the people to uphold the letter of the law, the crowd persisted. Several dozen men actually penetrated the jail, overpowered the jailers and entered Thomas’ cell. A rope was put around his neck and was dragged through the large mob. He suffered a non-fatal gunshot wound and was bleeding while being taken through the crowd. The crowd got a good look at him as he walked by and confirmed he was the assailant. Thomas fought to be free, and in the struggle every particle of clothing was removed from him. The Evening Star reports that “his cries and moans were heartrending, but the mob was relentless.” The crowd reached Fairfax Street and the demeanor changed. The crowd drew silent to watch. Benjamin Thomas was hung to a lamp post and quickly riddled with bullets. Someone in the crowd ordered his body burn. Some rushed to the body after he was dead to collect relics.

The coroner’s jury stated “we, the jury, find that Benjamin Thomas came to his death by the hands of a mob, the members of which are unknown to the jury, immediate cause of death was a gunshot wound of the heart” (Evening Star). Benjamin Thomas’s mother, Elizabeth, “refused to receive [his] remains at her home. She could not bear to look upon her boy, she said, and would have nothing to do with his funeral” (Evening Star). The Richmond Planet denounced the lynching and harshly criticized the Mayor of Alexandria and the local police force for their failure to protect Benjamin Thomas from the lynching mob.