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Sr. When they arrived, intending to arrest Dan Harris, Jr., Harris, Sr. informed them that his son had already been lynched the day before. The officers accused Harris, Sr. of harboring his son within the home. When officers attempted to forcefully enter, Harris, Sr. shot Deputy
Sheriff Cyrus Thomas with a shotgun. The city marshal shot back, wounding Harris, Sr. before taking him into custody at the same jail as Good, Hopkins, Warner, and Chambers. Deputy Sheriff Thomas died at the scene.
36:. These men, who were allegedly connected to the robbery of a brothel, were killed by a white mob who broke into the jail where they were being held. Two other men, Dan Harris, Jr. and John Harris, were also lynched in the days leading up to October 11, in connection with the same alleged offense. This
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reports that 18 people were victims of racial terror lynching in
Indiana. Ed Warren, Jeff Hopkins, Jim Good, William Chambers, and Dan Harris, Sr. are memorialized at the Equal Justice Initiative's National Memorial for Peace and Justice on the Indiana marker. In October 2022, Posey County dedicated
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The mob reconvened at 8 p.m. and 100 or so masked men made their way towards the jail under the cover of darkness. The mob proceeded to raid the jail, overpowering the officers guarding it. After 45 minutes, using crowbars, chisels, and a sledgehammer, the mob broke through the iron door to the cell
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Officers arrested Good, Hopkins, Warner, and
Chambers, and brought them to jail to await trial. White mobs lynched two men, Dan Harris, Jr. and John Harris, before officers could locate them. Officers were unaware of this when they went to the Mount Vernon home of Harris, Jr.'s father, Dan Harris,
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After killing Harris, Sr., the mob forced the other four men out of the jail with their hands bound and ropes around their necks. The men tried to claim their innocence and explain their whereabouts on the night of
October 7, but to no avail. Good, Hopkins, Warner, and Chambers were hanged from a
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As news of the arrests spread, a mob gathered at the jail where the five men were being held. Even as the crowd grew more violent, officers refused to let them in the jail. Rumors later spread that the
Governor had called in the militia, causing 200 armed white men to gather at the nearby train
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inside, where four of the men—Good, Hopkins, Warner, and
Chambers—were being held. During this time, Harris, Sr., who was in a separate cell and in poor condition due to his untreated gunshot wounds from earlier that day, was dismembered by the mob, with body parts being taken as souvenirs.
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station and prevent the militiamen from departing their train cars once they arrived, even hauling a cannon from the courthouse lawn to the train depot. However, the militia never showed up, and by 2 p.m. on
October 11, the crowd at the depot and the jail had dispersed.
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large tree outside the jail on the nearby courthouse lawn. The bodies remained hanging for most of the following day, with thousands of people from nearby counties traveling to view them.
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in Posey County. Law enforcement officers listed Jim Good, Jeff
Hopkins, Ed Warner, William Chambers, John Harris, and Dan Harris, Jr. as suspects, and began to search for them.
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Events like this lynching in Mount Vernon allowed white southerners to revel in the racist violence that took place in the
Midwest. Following the lynching, a Georgia newspaper,
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Posey County, Indiana is located in the southwestern corner of the state, wedged between the Wabash River and
Illinois to the west and the Ohio River and Kentucky to the south.
356:""This Negro Elephant is Getting to be a Pretty Large Sized Animal": White Hostility against Blacks in Indiana and the Historiography of Racist Violence in the Midwest"
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On October 7, 1878, Mount Vernon newspapers reported that a group of Black men had robbed a group of white women working as sex workers at a brothel near
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commented that "It will not do for the North any longer to hold up its hands in horror over the disposition of the South to indulge in lynch law."
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Equal Justice Initiative Marker naming racial terror lynching victims and the date of their deaths from Indiana
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On October 11, 1878, Jim Good, Jeff Hopkins, Ed Warner, William Chambers, and Dan Harris, Sr. were
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277:"Last-known lynching in Indiana included in National Memorial for Peace and Justice"
214:"Last-known lynching in Indiana included in National Memorial for Peace and Justice"
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a historical marker and a granite bench outside of the Posey County Courthouse.
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African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement
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429:"New Posey County Courthouse memorial marks Indiana's deadliest lynching"
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Hostile Heartland: Racism, Repression, and Resistance in the Midwest
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Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice
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is the largest reported lynching in Indiana's history.
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Racially motivated violence against African Americans
309:. Indiana Historical Society Press. pp. 278–9.
535:Race-related controversies in the United States
404:"The National Memorial for Peace and Justice"
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306:Indiana in the Civil War Era, 1850-1880
252:10.5406/illinois/9780252037467.001.0001
240:Pfeifer, Michael J., ed. (2013-03-01).
158:"Explore The Map | Lynching In America"
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136:. University of Illinois. p. 72.
470:Lynching victims in the United States
427:Harwood, Houston (October 24, 2022).
335:The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP)
275:Gilmer, Dawn Mitchell and Maureen C.
212:Gilmer, Dawn Mitchell and Maureen C.
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520:African-American history of Indiana
331:"Deputy Sheriff Cyrus Oscar Thomas"
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465:1878 murders in the United States
480:Murdered African-American people
246:. University of Illinois Press.
433:Evansville Courier & PRess
303:Thornbrough, Emma Lou (1965).
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490:Prisoners murdered in custody
354:Campney, Brent M. S. (2015).
525:History of racism in Indiana
515:Anti-black racism in Indiana
132:Campney, Brent M.S. (2019).
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485:People murdered in Indiana
475:Lynching deaths in Indiana
44:Background of the lynching
162:lynchinginamerica.eji.org
105:Equal Justice Initiative
185:"1878 Lynchings/Pogrom"
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38:racial terror lynching
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530:Posey County, Indiana
373:10.1353/mwr.2015.0017
281:The Indianapolis Star
243:Lynching Beyond Dixie
218:The Indianapolis Star
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84:The Augusta Chronicle
50:Mount Vernon, Indiana
30:Posey County, Indiana
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500:October 1878 events
32:, near the town of
360:Middle West Review
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316:978-0-87195-050-5
261:978-0-252-03746-7
143:978-0-252-04249-2
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34:Mount Vernon
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460:1878 deaths
438:October 28,
454:Categories
413:2022-05-01
340:2022-04-28
286:2022-04-28
223:2022-04-28
195:2022-04-27
167:2022-05-01
112:References
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382:2372-5672
77:Reactions
64:Lynching
26:lynched
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