(for near lynchings in Iowa, click here: http://academic.evergreen.edu/p/pfeiferm/Iowanearlynchings.html)
This list has been prepared by Professor Michael J. Pfeifer, Faculty Member, American Social History, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington 98505, tel: (360) 867-6009, e-mail: pfeiferm@evergreen.edu,
home page: http://academic.evergreen.edu/p/pfeiferm/home.htmThis list is approximately complete within the dates given. Further, to my knowledge no lynchings occurred in the state or territory of Iowa before or after the dates given. Please cite this website if you use information from it.
In this list of verified victims of lynching (referred to in at least one reliable primary source that I have identified, and if possible two or more independent primary sources; citations for sources are available on request), I use the definition of lynching that experts on mob violence devised at Tuskegee, Alabama in 1940: "there must be legal evidence that a person has been killed, and that he met his death illegally at the hands of a group acting under the pretext of service to justice, race, or tradition," with a group defined as "three" or more persons. For an insightful discussion of the historical problem of definition, see Christopher Waldrep, “Word and Deed: The Language of Lynching, 1820-1953,” in Michael Bellesiles, Lethal Imagination: Violence and Brutality in American History (New York: New York University Press, 1999). I believe that the Tuskegee definition, while historically contingent and imperfect, remains useful to historians of the phenomenon. Its emphasis on the collective, purposeful, ideological, lethal, and unlawful nature of lynching is in fact consistent with the popular usage of the term as well as the actual praxis of violence from the mid nineteenth century through the present day. If more than one victim was lynched in the incident, they are listed separately, although much of the rest of the information will be identical.
Incidents are listed by date, name given for victim, town or city, county, alleged offense, race or ethnicity, and type of mob (from W. Fitzhugh Brundage's classification scheme in Lynching in the New South: Georgia and Virginia, 1880-1930 (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 17-48, 291-292. I adapt Brundage's taxonomy with these general guidelines: mass mobs evoked broad participation and approval, were spontaneous and possessed little if any formal organization, and were highly ritualized in practice. Posses were groups of men, sometimes authorized by the sheriff, who searched for fleeing suspects. But these often large crowds occasionally killed the persons they were seeking to apprehend. Posses could legally kill if suspects were armed or resisted arrest. I have categorized collective killings perpetrated by search parties as lynchings only if victims were unarmed or did not attempt to avoid arrest after being located. Two additional categories of mobs drew far less popular support. Private lynchings constituted secretive, small-scale but collective enactments of vengeance, often by relatives and friends of someone allegedly harmed by the mob's victim. Terrorist mobs were long-lasting, well-organized groups that perpetrated extralegal violence, often for economic goals.
A key source for lynchings in Iowa is Paul Walton Black, "Lynchings in Iowa," Iowa Journal of History and Politics 10 (1912), 151-254.
June 20, 1834, Patrick O'Connor, Dubuque, Murder, White, Mass?
early September, 1840, "Nat," Dubuque, Dubuque County, Theft, Black, Mass
July 21, 1849, John Wilson, Linn County, Horse Theft, White, Terrorist?
May 17, 1853, Baltimore Muir, Council Bluffs, Pottawatamie County, Murder, White, Mass?
1857 Eastern Iowa Vigilante Movement
April 11, 1857, Alexander Gifford, Jackson County, Murder, White, TerroristMay 29, 1857, William P. Barger, Jackson County, Thief, White, Terrorist
June 18, 1857, Alonzo Page, Cedar County, Connected with Horse Thieves, White, Terrorist
June 24, 1857, Bennett Warren, Clinton County, Unknown, White, Terrorist
June 27, 1857, Peter Conklin, Cedar County, Gang of Thieves, White, Terrorist
June 29, 1857, Unknown, Jones County, Horse Thief, White, Terrorist
July 3, 1857, Alonzo Gleason, Cedar County, Horse Thief, White, Terrorist
July 3, 1857, Edwin Soper, Cedar County, Horse Thief, White, Terrorist
July 5, 1857, Unknown, Cedar County, Horse Thief, White, Terrorist
July 10, 1857, Long, Jones County, Horse Thievery, White, Terrorist
July 10, 1857, Long’s Accomplice, Jones County, Horse Thievery, White, Terrorist
July 14, 1857, Kelso, Cedar County, Unknown, White, Terrorist
July 14, 1857, Accomplice of Kelso, Cedar County, Unknown, White, Terrorist
July 21, 1857, Kieth, Cedar County, Counterfeiting and Horse Stealing, White, Terrorist
December 4, 1857, Hiram T. Roberts, Jones County, Counterfeiter and Thief, White, Terrorist
July 14, 1857, William B. Thomas (alias “Comequick”), Poweshiek County, Murder, White?, Mass
January 4, 1860, Charley Bunker and William Bunker, Tama County, Unknown, White, Private
July 5, 1860, John Kephart, Jefferson County, Murder, White, Mass
October 16, 1860, Philip McGuire, Pottawattamie County, Kidnapping and Selling into Slavery, White, Unknown
July, 1863, Miller, Pottawattamie County, Horse Stealing, White, Unknown
May 28, 1865, James Henderson, Mills County, “Loafer” and Horse Thief, White, Terrorist
October 18, 1865, James Hiner, Clinton County, Horse Thief, White, Terrorist
June 14, 1867, William Lawn, Mills County, James Henderson's Brother-in-law who made "Trouble" when Drunk, White, Terrorist
June 14, 1867, Patrick Lawn, Mills County, James Henderson's Brother-in-law who made "Trouble" when Drunk, White, Terrorist
1868, John McRoberts, Bremer County, Horse Thief, White, Terrorist
September 21, 1868, Charles Brandon, Mahaska County, Horse-stealing, White, Terrorist
January 18, 1869, William Jackson, Fremont County, Murder, White, Private
January 18, 1869, James Orton, Fremont County, Murder, White, Private
November 16, 1869, Murdock, Fremont County, Murderous Assault, White, Private
July 6, 1870, Hiram Wilson, Chariton, Lucas County, Horse Theft and Murder, White, Unknown
December 15, 1874, Charles Howard, Des Moines, Polk County, Murder, White, Mass
May 9, 1875, George W. Kirkman, Story County, Arson, White, Private
June 29, 1875, Archie Smith, Ottumwa, Wapello County, Murder, White, Unknown
June 3, 1883, John Anderson, Cass County, Attempted Murder, White, Private
June 3, 1883, Frank Brown, Cass County, Attempted Murder, White, Private
June 3, 1883, John Hamner, Madison County, Murder, White, Private
June 8, 1883, William Barber, Bremer County, Murder, White, Mass
June 8, 1883, Isaac Barber, Bremer County, Murder, White, Mass
July 15, 1883, Simpson Tylor Crawford, Shelby County, Murder, White, Posse
July 24, 1883, William Hardy, Shelby County, Murder, White, Private
December 29, 1884, Pleasant Anderson, Wapello County, Murder, White, Private
Febuary 4, 1885, Cicero Jellerson, Audubon County, Murder, White, Private
February 4, 1885, John Smyth, Audubon County, Murder, White, Private
February 4, 1885, Joel Wilson, Audubon County, Murder, White, Private
June 5, 1885, Finley Rainsbarger, Eldora, Hardin County, Attempted Murder, White, Private
June 5, 1885, Emmanuel Rainsbarger, Eldora, Hardin County, Attempted Murder, White, Private
April 3, 1887, John McKenzie, Corning, Adams County, Murder, White, Private
August 14, 1887, James Reynolds, Leon, Decatur County, Rape, White, Private
June 29, 1889, "Olaf", Bedford, Taylor County, Rape, Indian, Private
March 22, 1893, William Frazier, Hiteman, Monroe County, Murder, White, Mass
November 21, 1893, Frank Johnson, Ottumwa, Wapello County, Rape, White, Mass
April 30, 1894, Reddy Wilson, Missouri Valley, Harrison County, Murder, White, Private
March 6, 1895, Orlando Wilkins, Dallas County, Robbery, White, Posse
January 9, 1907, James Cullen, Charles City, Floyd County, Murder, White, Mass