Lynching of Stephen Williams

Stephen Williams was an African American man, lynched in Upper Marlboro, Maryland on October 20, 1894.[1][2]

Part of a series on the
Nadir of American race relations
White mob attack in the Atlanta Massacre of 1906.
Historical background Reconstruction era Disenfranchisement Redeemers Compromise of 1877 Jim Crow laws
Practices Common actions Expulsions of African Americans Lynchings Lynching postcards Sundown town Whitecapping Vigilante groups Black Legion Indiana White Caps Ku Klux Klan Red Shirts
Lynchings Michael Green Nevlin Porter and Johnson Spencer Eliza Woods Amos Miller George Meadows People's Grocery Jim Taylor Joe Coe Ephraim Grizzard Samuel J. Bush Alfred Blount Stephen Williams John Henry James Frazier B. Baker and Julia Baker Sam Hose David Wyatt Marie Thompson Watkinsville Ed Johnson William Burns Walker family Laura and L. D. Nelson King Johnson John Evans Jesse Washington Newberry Six Anthony Crawford Ell Persons George Taylor 1920 Duluth James Harvey and Joe Jordan
Massacres and riots Rock Springs massacre Thibodaux massacre Spring Valley Race Riot of 1895 Phoenix election riot Wilmington insurrection of 1898 Pana riot Robert Charles riots Evansville race riot Atlanta Massacre of 1906 Springfield race riot of 1908 Johnson–Jeffries riots 1912 Racial Conflict in Forsyth County 1917 Chester race riot East St. Louis riots Elaine massacre Red Summer Chicago race riot of 1919 Ocoee massacre Tulsa race massacre Perry race riot Rosewood massacre
Reactions Anti-lynching movement Exodusters movement Great Migration
Related topics Black genocide Civil rights movement (1865–1896) Civil rights movement (1896–1954) Mass racial violence in the United States

Williams had confessed to assaulting Mrs. Katie Hardesty, an offense described as "one of the most brutal in the criminal annals of Prince George's County" and was locked up in the Jail in Upper Marlboro.[1] A group of masked men broke into the jail and pulled Williams from under his mattress, put a rope around his neck and dragged him from the jail.[1] Williams was dragged to the "iron bridge just between the town and the railroad depot."[1] The rope was thrown over the top beams of the bridge and Williams was "hauled up."[1] A round of gunfire was unleashed into Williams' hanging body and the corpse was left dangling on the bridge.[1]

This was the same bridge that Joe Vermillion was lynched on in 1889.[1]