David Johnson (white)
MSA SC 3520-13790
Lynched September 14, 1886 in Westernport, Allegany County
Biography:
David Johnson, a white man, was lynched on September 14, 1886 in Westernport, Allegany County, accused of the murder of Edward White. White, married with seven children- was a well-known man who worked at the Baltimore and Ohio railroad boiler shops in Piedmont, West Virginia. According to the Baltimore Sun, White "bore an excellent reputation, and was not known to have had any trouble with Johnson."1 Johnson was around fifty years old, and according to the contemporary descriptions, was generally considered to be mentally ill, "from all accounts religious mania, combined with homicidal tendency, seemed to have been his trouble."2 Johnson had a family and had lived in Piedmont, West Virginia for many years. A son of Johnson had been critically injured in a mining accident in Cumberland, and at the time of the lynching had just died after being bedridden for three years. The newspaper speculated that caring for his son had "affected his reason."3 Johnson had worked in the Baltimore and Ohio railroad boiler shops with White, but had been fired for attacking an Irish worker named Rooney with a hammer. The Sun article mentioned that Johnson had reportedly tried to kill several men and had threatened White several times.4
Around twelve o'clock pm on September 14, Johnson reportedly shot White with a double barreled shotgun on the path to White's house, located on a hill in Westernport. A group accompanying White witnessed the event. Johnson was placed in "the lock-up" at Westernport before he was to be moved to the Cumberland jail, where it was believed he would be safer from mob violence.5
A lynch mob broke into the jail at Westernport before Sheriff Houck arrived to move Johnson to Cumberland. Around eight o'clock that evening, the mob stormed the building and hanged David Johnson from a bridge over George's Creek. It was reported that his body was thrown into the creek.6
According to a later newspaper article, a man named Michael Malone was convicted of manslaughter in connection with Johnson's lynching. The newspaper went on to claim that "this is said to have been the only instance of conviction for lynching in Maryland."7
1. "Murder and Lynching," Baltimore Sun, September 15, 1886.
2. "Murder and Lynching."
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. "10,000 See Corpse," Baltimore Sun, October 7, 1907.
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