The lynching of Jay Lynch, age 28, took place in

Lamar, Missouri Lamar is a city in and the county seat of Barton County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 4,266. It is known as the birthplace of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States. The city governme ...

, on May 28, 1919. The year 1919 saw 83

lynching 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 ...

s in the United States. Lynch was one of only four white men lynched in that year.

Jay Lynch

Jay Lynch had a long arrest record. Crimes he was accused of included burglary and robbery. In Oklahoma City he allegedly stole a car, and in Kansas City he allegedly stole $300 ($ in ) worth of women's silks. For almost a decade he was in and out of jail and escaped from prison several times. In 1918, he was hired on as a private detective of the

Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. While working for the railway he was arrested for robbing a train. Lynch skipped bail on that charge and was later arrested near his sister's house near Lamar.

Murder

On March 3, 1919, while being held in Lamar in connection with the Wabash Railroad boxcar robbery in St. Louis, Lynch asked to use the jailhouse telephone. When Sheriff John Marion Harlow Jr. of Barton County opened his cell, Lynch fatally shot the sheriff with a gun he had earlier smuggled into the county jail. Harlow's son, Dick Harlow, heard the commotion and ran to save his father, but was also mortally wounded by Lynch and died a few days later. After shooting the sheriff and his son, Lynch fled the state and drove across the country. He was denied entry to Mexico and was arrested again in

La Junta, Colorado La Junta is a home rule municipality in , the county seat of, and the most populous municipality of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,322 at the 2020 United States Census. La Junta is located on the Arkansas Ri ...

, on May 13, 1919, and sent back to Missouri. Lynch pleaded guilty to murder. As there was no death penalty in Missouri, he was sentenced to life in prison.

Lynching

Fearing violence from the packed courthouse, presiding judge B. G. Thurman had the prisoner taken into his private office after the verdict to say goodbye to Lynch's family. In his office were the judge; Lynch's wife, baby, mother, and sister; and several deputies assigned to guard the prisoner. While Lynch was holding his child, 24 people burst into the office and overpowered the armed guards. The men put a noose around Lynch's neck and dragged him out of the courthouse. The noose's rope was thrown over a tree branch, but when he was strung up, it broke under the weight. Another, sturdier branch was chosen, and Lynch was hanged in front of a cheering crowd.

Aftermath

The coroner's report listed the cause of Lynch's death as "at the hands of parties unknown". Prosecuting attorney H. W. Timmonds and sheriff W. A. Sewell of Barton County started an investigation into the lynching, but no charges were ever filed as no one was willing to identify the perpetrators. The State of Missouri had abolished

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

in 1917. In large part due to the events surrounding Lynch's lynching, as well as the representative of Barton County, H. C. Chancellor, giving an impassioned speech calling for the death penalty; the punishment was quickly restored for seven crimes:

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

subornation of perjury In United States law, American law, Scots law, and under the laws of some English-speaking Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations, subornation of perjury is the crime of persuading or permitting a person to commit perjury, which is the swe ...

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

, and

train robbery Train robbery is a type of robbery, in which the goal is to steal money or other valuables being carried aboard trains. History Train robberies were more common in the past when trains were slower, and often occurred in the American Old West. Tr ...

. It was signed into law by Governor Frederick D. Gardner.

Bibliography

Notes

Citations

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Jay 1919 in Missouri 1919 riots in the United States May 1919 events Riots and civil disorder in Missouri White American riots in the United States 1919 deaths 1919 murders in the United States Lynching deaths in Missouri People from Missouri People murdered in Missouri