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 of Wyoming 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.
October 31, 1878, Billy Mansfield, Albany County, Robbery, White, Private
October 31, 1878, Archie McLaughlin, Albany County, Robbery, White, Private
January 5, 1879, "Dutch" Chorley, Carbon County, Murder, White, Mass
Autumn, 1879, Lacey, Carbon County, Robbery, Assault, White, Terrorist
Autumn, 1879, Unidentified Man, Carbon County, Robbery, Assault, White, Terrorist
Autumn, 1879, Unidentified Man, Carbon County, Robbery, Assault, White, Terrorist
March 22, 1881, "Big Nose" George Parrott, Carbon County, Murder, Assault, White, Private
September 16, 1883, Henry Mosier, Cheyenne, Laramie County, Murder, White, Mass
May 20, 1884, William Maloney, Laramie County, Murder, White, Private
August 8, 1885, Si Partridge, Albany County, Horse Theft, White, Terrorist
December, 1886, Gus Kernwood, Unknown, Horse Theft, Murder, Latino, Terrorist
October 10, 1888, N. L. Adams, Carbon County, Poaching, White, Private
October 10, 1888, Charles Putzier, Carbon County, Poaching, White, Private
July 20, 1889, "Cattle Kate" Ellen Watson, Carbon County, Rustling, White, Terrorist
July 20, 1889, James Averill, Carbon County, Rustling, White, Terrorist
June 18, 1891, Tom Waggoner, Crook County, Rustling, White, Terrorist
April 9, 1892, Nick Ray, Johnson County, Rustling, White, Terrorist
April 9, 1892, Nate Champion, Johnson County, Rustling, White, Terrorist
October 12, 1892, Jack Bedford, Johnson County, Rustling, White, Terrorist
October 12, 1892, Dad Burch, Johnson County, Rustling, White, Terrorist
March 28, 1902, Charles Woodard, Casper, Natrona County, Murder, White, Private
July, 1902, Sheepherder, Sweetwater County, Sheep Range Conflict, White, Terrorist
May 27, 1903, W. C. Clifton, Weston County, Murder, White, Private
July 19, 1903, James Gorman, Basin, Big Horn County, Murder, White, Private
July 19, 1903, J. P. Walters, Basin, Big Horn County, Murder, White, Private
October 31, 1903, Black Kettle, Weston County, Murder and Stock Theft, Indian, Posse
October 31, 1903, Eagle Feather, Weston County, Murder and Stock Theft, Indian, Posse
October 31, 1903, Unidentified Lakota, Weston County, Murder and Stock Theft, Indian, Posse
October 31, 1903, Unidentified Lakota, Weston County, Murder and Stock Theft, Indian, Posse
August 30, 1904, Joseph Martin, Laramie, Albany County, Attempted Sexual Assault, Black, Mass
April, 1909, Joe Allemand, Big Horn County, Sheep Range Conflict, White, Terrorist
April, 1909, Joe Emge, Big Horn County, Sheep Range Conflict, White, Terrorist
April, 1909, Joe Lazier, Big Horn County, Sheep Range Conflict, White, Terrorist
October 2, 1912, Frank Wigfall, Rawlins, Carbon County, Rape, Black, Private
December 14, 1917, Wade Hamilton, Rock Springs, Sweetwater County, Attempted Rape, Black, Private
December 9, 1918, Joel Woodson, Green River, Sweetwater County, Murder, Black, Mass