By Mackenzie Burn
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Gov. Larry Hogan became the first governor in U.S. history Saturday to issue posthumous pardons to 34 Maryland lynching victims from 1854 to 1933.
“My hope is that this action will at least in some way help to right these horrific wrongs and perhaps bring a measure of peace to the memories of these individuals, and to their descendants and loved ones,” Hogan, a Republican, said during an outdoor ceremony near the Towson jail.
The event was in honor of Howard Cooper, a 15-year-old boy who was dragged from the Baltimore County Jail by a white mob and hung from a sycamore tree in 1885. An all-white jury convicted the youth of raping a teenage white girl in an area then known as Rockland in Baltimore County. Officials said that neither the girl nor Cooper testified about the rape but the jury within minutes sentenced the Black teen to death by hanging.
Cooper was lynched early on July 13, 1885, before his attorneys could appeal his conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Saturday’s event amid cool spring rain memorialized Cooper with a plaque telling his story and paying homage to his mother, Henrietta, who had to bury her son in an unmarked grave.
Joining Hogan were Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, state House Speaker Adrienne Jones and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.
“The State of Maryland has long been on the forefront of civil rights, dating back to Justice Thurgood Marshall’s legal battle to integrate schools and throughout our national reckoning on race,” Hogan told relatives of the lynched victims. “Today, we are once again leading the way as we continue the work to build a more perfect union.”
Two years ago, Maryland became the first state to enact a law to establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is authorized to research cases of racially motivated lynchings and hold public meetings and regional hearings where lynchings had been documented.
At the memorial event, Hogan said he mailed a letter to President Biden imploring him to establish a “U.S. Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Commission,” and wrote: “A national commission would further this important work by examining racial healing through a larger lens.”
Hogan explained to the audience that he decided on the pardons after middle school students at Loch Raven Technical Academy petitioned him to pardon Cooper “in light of the fact that he was never afforded due process under the law.”
In addition to Cooper, Hogan signed pardons for:
- David Thomas, who was lynched by a mob in or near Denton around Oct. 10, 1854, before he could be transferred to a state penitentiary.
- “Frederick,” a 13-year-old hung from a tree in or near Cecilton around September 1861, for allegations of attempted rape.
- Jim Wilson, who was seized from jail and lynched near Oakland, Caroline County, on or about Nov. 4 for allegations of murder.
- Isaac Moore, who, as he was being taken to a hearing before a Bel Air magistrate, was seized by a mob and lynched around July 22, 1868, for allegations of assault, robbery, and attempted rape.
- Jim Quinn, who was taken from a train in or near White Hall by 30 men and lynched from a nearby tree around Oct. 2, 1869, for assault allegations.
- Thomas Juricks, who, while being transported by constables to Upper Marlboro, was seized in or near Piscataway and lynched around Oct. 12, 1869, for assault allegations.
- John Jones, who was traveling by carriage, waylaid by a group of men in the woods, and hung in or near Elkton around July 29, 1872, for arson allegations.
- John Henry Scott, who was hanged in or near Oxon Hill on or about March 23, 1875, after a deputy gave him to a mob for rape allegations.
- John Sims, who was seized from jail and lynched in or near Annapolis around June 7, 1875, for rape charges.
- Mike Green, who was seized from jail by a mob of masked men and hanged outside of Upper Marlboro around Sept. 1, 1878, for assault allegations.
- James Carroll, who was seized aboard a train in Point of Rocks and lynched by a mob from a tree next to the station around April 17, 1879, for assault and rape allegations.
- George Peck, who, as a justice took him to Rockville for trial, was seized near Poolesville and lynched on or about Jan. 10, 1880, for assault allegations.
- John Diggs-Dorsey, who was still wearing his leg irons when he was dragged from his Rockville jail cell and lynched outside of Darnestown by a mob that had overpowered the sheriff and sheriff’s deputies on or about July 27, 1880, for assault allegations.
- George Briscoe, who was intercepted on his way to an Annapolis jail and lynched in Jacobsville around Nov. 26, 1884, for robbery allegations.
- Townsend Cook, who, after the sheriff was overpowered, was seized from jail, and lynched in or near Westminster around June 2, 1885, for rape allegations.
- Howard Cooper, who, while his case was on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, was seized from jail and lynched near Towson on July 13, 1885, for assault and rape convictions.
- Charles Whitely, who was seized from jail and lynched in or near Prince Frederick on or about June 6, 1886, for assault allegations.
- Benjamin Hance, who was seized from jail and lynched in or near Leonardtown on June 17, 1887, for attempted assault charges.
- John Biggus, who was seized from jail by a large mob and lynched on a farm near Frederick around Nov. 23, 1887, for assault allegations.
- Asbury Green, who, after a mob overpowered jail guards, was dragged from his cell and lynched in or near Centreville around May 13, 1891, for assault and rape convictions.
- James Taylor, who, after a mob stormed a Chestertown jail, was taken away and lynched on or about May 17, 1892, for rape allegations.
- Isaac Kemp, who, after a mob stormed a Princess Anne jail, was shot dead while still chained in his cell around June 8, 1894, for murder charges.
- Stephen Williams, who was seized after a one-hour effort to break into the jail and hung from an iron bridge in or near Upper Marlboro around Oct. 20, 1894, for attempted assault charges.
- Jacob Henson, who, while planning an appeal, was seized from jail by a mob and hanged in or near Ellicott City around March 28, 1895, for a murder conviction.
- James Bowens, who, around Nov. 16, 1895, while awaiting a preliminary hearing before the county magistrate on rape and murder charges, was forcibly taken from jail and hanged at the same farm in or near Frederick where John Biggus had been lynched in 1887.
- Sidney Randolph, who was dragged from jail and hanged in or near Rockville on or about July 3, 1896, for assault and murder allegations.
- William Andrews, who, immediately after his trial, was taken and lynched in or near Princess Anne by a mob waiting outside the courthouse around June 9, 1897, for an assault conviction.
- Garfield King, who was seized from jail by a mob, then hanged and shot in or near Salisbury around May 25, 1898, for murder charges.
- Wright Smith, who fled jail as a mob broke in but, while running away, was shot repeatedly in the street in or near Annapolis around Oct. 5, 1898, for assault allegations.
- Lewis Harris, who was seized from jail by a mob, hanged, and shot in or near Bel Air around March 27, 1900, for assault allegations.
- Henry Davis, who, after a mob overpowered the jail guards, was paraded through the streets, shot, and then hanged in or near Annapolis around Dec. 21, 1906, for assault charges.
- William Burns, who was seized from jail, beaten, shot, and hanged in or near Cumberland around Oct. 6, 1907, for murder allegations.
- King Johnson, who, after being left unguarded in jail, was seized by eight men, beaten, and fatally shot in or near Brooklyn around Dec. 23, 1911, for allegations of shooting a man to death.
- George Armwood, who was seized from jail before his arraignment and lynched in or near Princess Anne around Oct. 18, 1933, for assault charges.