Joe Coe, also known as George Smith, was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

laborer who was

lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

on October 10, 1891, in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

. Overwhelmed by a mob of one thousand at the Douglas County Courthouse, the twelve city police officers stood by without intervening. Afterward, the mayor called the lynching "the most deplorable thing that has ever happened in the history of the country."

Biography and death

Coe was a married man with two children who lived on North 12th Street north of downtown Omaha. On October 7, 1891, Lizzie Yates, a five-year-old white child who also lived in North Omaha, accused Coe of assaulting her. Before the verdict was passed rumors swept through Omaha about Coe getting away with the crime, about the girl dying, and about Coe receiving a small punishment. A crowd of men was already gathered at the old Douglas County Courthouse the day when Coe was brought in, to witness an unrelated, scheduled

hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...

, an official execution. Rumors flew around Omaha that the girl had died, the guilty party was in jail, and was only going to be punished with 20 years' incarceration. The next day, a

mob Mob or MOB may refer to: Behavioral phenomena * Crowd * Smart mob, a temporary self-structuring social organization, coordinated through telecommunication Crime and law enforcement * American Mafia, also known as the Mob * Irish Mob, a US crimin ...

of several hundred to 1,000 men formed in

downtown Omaha Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and ...

early on October 10 and overwhelmed the

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

at the courthouse. Councilman Moriarty drove his cane through a window and led the men against the courthouse.Ginzburg, R. (1988), p 128, Reprint of 5 Oct 1919 article, ''Omaha Bee''. Leaders drove Coe to the assumed victim's house in the Near North Side neighborhood to be identified by the parents. The mother immediately said she had seen Coe roaming around the house, although she would not swear that it was him. When the mob brought Coe back to the courthouse to be lynched, James E. Boyd, the governor of Nebraska, and the county sheriff both appealed to the men to disperse. Instead, by midnight a crowd of 1,000 to 10,000 people had gathered at the courthouse. The mob beat Coe and dragged him through city streets. He was probably already dead when he was

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from a streetcar wire at 17th and Harney Streets.

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Richard C. Cushing quickly condemned the lynching as "the most deplorable thing that has ever happened in the history of the country."

Aftermath

Seven men were arrested for the crime, including the chief of police and the manager of a large dry goods store. A mob gathered outside the jail and threatened to destroy it unless the suspects were freed on bail but the County Attorney was determined to refuse them. The following day when Coe's body was set for public viewing at a downtown

mortuary A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cus ...

, six thousand spectators filed by.

Huckster A huckster is anyone who sells something or serves biased interests, using pushy or showy tactics. Historically, the term meant any type of peddler or vendor, but over time it has assumed pejorative connotations. Etymology The original meanin ...

s sold pieces of the lynching rope as souvenirs. Ten days after the lynching, the Douglas County Assistant

Coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

testified in court that Smith died of "fright", rather than of the wounds inflicted on him by the mob. Those wounds included sixteen wounds to his body and three

vertebrae The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic i ...

broken in his spine. Despite this, the coroner testified, " e heart was so contracted and the blood was in such a condition that the doctor was satisfied that the man was literally scared to death." County Attorney Mahoney said he would have to modify the charges against the lynchers."Smith died of fright"
''The New York Times'', October 20, 1891. Retrieved 4/20/08 The grand jury decided not to prosecute.

References

External links

George Smith at Find A grave

"A History of Omaha's First Recorded Lynching"
by Adam Fletcher Sasse for NorthOmahaHistory.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Coe, Joe 19th-century births 1891 deaths 1891 murders in the United States 1891 riots 1891 in the United States October 1891 events Lynchings in Omaha, Nebraska Riots and civil disorder in Nebraska African-American life in Omaha, Nebraska Racially motivated violence against African Americans People from Omaha, Nebraska History of Downtown Omaha, Nebraska People murdered in Nebraska Lynching deaths in Nebraska Murdered African-American people History of racism in Nebraska