Public Executions in Lynchburg, Part 1
By Christian Crouch, Assistant Curator and Museum Technologist
[Content Warning: Graphic Description of a Hanging]
As October rolls around once again, we find ourselves in a very different place than even one year ago. We face the shades of 1918 and are all finding ways to deal with how the world currently turns. Luckily, the Lynchburg Museum and this author bring you a triad of stories dealing with that most lighthearted of subjects - executions. At the very least, this series of stories will promote excitement and tension because, like any good story-teller, I will be saving one of the best stories for last - a ghost story, no less.
While there were at least two known private executions of enslaved individuals in the nearby counties and a handful of executions in Campbell County at large, there have been six known public and private executions in Lynchburg, Virginia. The first was John Jones for allegedly murdering another man on a boat in 1828. The second was William Hendricks for the alleged murder of a man in a bawdy-house in 1860. The third and fourth were both unidentified African American males at the end of the Civil War for theft in 1865. The fifth was John Hancock for the alleged rape of two girls in 1897. The last was Joe Higgenbotham for the rape and attempted murder of Bertha May Webber in 1902. Since that time, no other recorded hanging or execution has been committed in Lynchburg City. Virginia is today one of the 28 states that still allow the death penalty, having the second most executions in the United States since 1976 after Texas. As a part of this series of three stories we will only be exploring the tales of John Hancock, William Hendricks, and John Jones - as they have just enough information to make for good singular blog posts. Joe Higgenbotham will be explored at length at a later date, as his case is detailed and nuanced requiring its own breathing room.
This enclosed parking lot (on the corner of Clay and 8th Streets) is the former location of Lynchburg’s original jail yard and the site of the last two public executions in the city. This photograph was taken from the upper level of the Clay Street Parking Deck. October 2020.
Part I - John Hancock
It was 1897. The turn of the last century[1] brought the era of the cowboy in the West to an end, the world’s first automobile race was in Chicago a year before, a majority of Native American tribes had finally lost their homelands after decades of struggle and were being pushed to reservations, telephones were becoming widely used as well as electricity in cities and homes, and just one year earlier Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the “separate but equal” Jim Crow doctrine that would last well into the 20th century. In 1897, Lynchburg was attempting wrestle with its fifth execution - this time for rape. The man to be executed was named John Hancock, a local African American man. His alleged crime was the rape and sexual assault of two white girls, Rosa Cohn[1] and Bertie Messenger, aged 11 and 9 respectively. According to sources at the time, Hancock was in the employ of an A. Messenger who was the uncle of Rosa Cohn mentioned above and an unknown relation to Bertie Messenger. Hancock worked for Messenger for about two years before the incident occurred and had “waited on the grandfather of Rosa Cohn…(who) was an invalid and Hancock occupied his room.”[2] Hancock allegedly entered the room where Rosa Cohn and Bertie Messenger stayed, nearby the room of the grandfather, and “by threatening the child with a knife had accomplished his purpose.”[3] The act was then apparently “substantially told by several witnesses.”[4]
The Richmond Times, September 22, 1898
Hancock was taken into custody and tried in Corporation Court in the “court-house”[5] (which is likely the same building housing the current Lynchburg Museum) on September 21, 1898. Newspapers of the time also wrote, with biases of the time, that he was “entirely unconcerned”[6] and as he was sentenced he “stood up with a bag of ginger cakes in one of his hands.”[7] He was sentenced to be executed on December 2, 1898[8].
The Hancock case did not stop at sentencing however; his counsel is shown on multiple occasions attempting to either have his case dismissed, re-tried, or reprieved. The first proof we see is on November 24, 1898 where the “Court of Appeals had refused a writ of error in the case of John Hancock”.[9] According to The Writs of Error Coram Nobis and Coram Vobis by Edward N. Robinson,
After the completion of an unsuccessful litigation, an attorney may find that certain facts existed which, if they had been brought to the attention of the court during the trial, would have prevented the judgment. Yet, the more familiar procedural remedies may be inappropriate or may have long before expired leaving him without apparent recourse to the courts.
While this is most likely a common step in the process of appeals, it begs the question- what evidence was found roughly a month or so later that prompted a writ of error? A little over a week after the writ was denied, Hancock was to be executed. Governor James Hoge Tyler was sent requests to reprieve Hancock and denied them up to December 1, 1898 - the day before Hancock was to be executed. Then “on representations of prominent citizens of Lynchburg”[10], Governor Tyler granted a 30 day respite on the day of Hancock’s execution. The next day, The Times in Richmond wrote that members of the town were divided on the granted respite and “opinion that there are extenuating circumstances in the case has been growing every day.”[11]
Bedford Democrat, Vol. 13, No. 23, October 6, 1898
On the day of his execution, December 31, 1898, John Hancock was called upon in his cell “at eight minutes after nine o’clock”[12] by a Sergeant Johnson, and officers Robert Adams and Henry Latham. Two minutes after,[13] he was led to the gallows in the jail yard, which was located almost directly behind the Lynchburg Museum today, where the order of the court was read by Sergeant Johnson. In order to preserve the exact proceeding of events, I will include the complete description from the newspaper article- though be aware it may not be suitable for all readers.
Then with the Sergeant on one side, Officer Adams on the other, the Rev. Carroll[2] [3] following, Hancock walked steadily up the steps of the gallows and took his stand on the platform in front of the trap. Where at 9:12 the noose, which had been previously greased, was placed around his neck. At this juncture prayer was offered by Rev. Carroll and immediately after by Davis, the latter going up at the request of the condemned. The minister then left the scaffold and Sergeant Johnson next tied Hancock’s legs and placed him on the trap door...Asked if he wanted to pray, the prisoner muttered something supposed to be in the negative, and added, “I wish you all good luck, good-bye all.” He then asked Sergeant Johnson to scratch his ear, which Mr. Johnson did and then deftly slipped the awful black cap over his head and face. The sergeant then descended the steps and as he did so, Hancock in a strong, steady voice exclaimed, “Good-bye, good-bye to everybody. I hope to meet you all in Heaven.” He had hardly finished these words before the sergeant had reached the side of the gallows near the jail door and calling out “Good-bye John.” at 9:15 skillfully pulled the big iron bolt, which releasing the trap door, Hancock’s body swung around for possibly a few seconds. Only one or two slight convulsive movements of the body followed and as far as man can tell Hancock never felt a pang. Several physicians who were present were soon after invited to examine the body and at 9:26 no pulse could be felt in the wrist, though it was thought there was a faint fluttering of the heart. At 9:30 they pronounced him dead and at 9:35 twenty minutes after the drop fell the body was lowered, the arms unpinioned and the black cap removed. It was ascertained that the neck had been broken and it is possible that the slipping of the knot of the rope from under the ear to the back of the neck had materially helped in this regard. The features were but slightly disfigured, one eye being a little swollen.
Looking back on this event from a historical perspective, a few things should be mentioned in relation to this particular crime. Forty-eight (48) African Americans were executed for the crime of rape and Twenty (20) were executed for the crime of attempted rape in Virginia from 1900 to 1999[14]. During that same time frame there were 0 whites executed for either of those same crimes[15]. While the author has personally found one instance of a white man executed for rape in an 1898[16] there is a clear difference in how the criminal justice system treated white and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) peoples for the crime of rape and sexual assault. Even the primary sources that the author pulled from should be taken with scrutiny, as they exhibit clear prejudices of the time and probably skip over details that we, today, would find extremely important for the case.
Bedford Democrat, Vol. 13, No. 33, November 24, 1898
The story of John Hancock is a twisting and murky one that promotes some interesting questions. Why were so many members of Lynchburg eager to have his reprieve granted? What evidence constituted a writ of error and caused so many in town to believe that wrong had been done? I encourage you to follow up on this story and do some research of your own- maybe you will find something that I have missed that will break open the small mysteries of this story. Though, even if you don’t and this serves to be nothing more than a quick afternoon read- please join us in the next installment to be posted next week!
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[1] She was the daughter of a Mrs. Yetta Cohn
[2] The Times, Richmond VA Saturday, December 31 1898.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] The Times. September 22, 1898, Image 3, (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Alexandria Gazette, December 2, 1898, Image 1.
[9] Bedford Democrat, Volume 13, Number 33, 24 November 1898
[10] Alexandria Gazette, December 1, 1898, Image 1.
[11] The Times, Richmond December 3, 1898.
[12] The Times, Richmond, December 31, 1898.
[13] Ibid.
[14] https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state/virginia
[15] https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state/virginia “Virginia Executions in the 20th Century (by race)”[16] The Evening Times in Washington, D.C., “John Hancock, colored, will be hanged Friday at Lynchburg for an atrocious offence...Jordan Webb, a white man, will pay the same penalty for the same crime in Southampton County the following Friday,”