Jim Quinn
MSA SC 3520-18339
Lynched in Harford County, Maryland on October 2, 1869
Biography:
Jim Quinn, referred to as Jim Crow in the Baltimore Sun, was an African American man who was lynched in Harford County on October 2, 1869, for an alleged sexual assault.1 There is no definitive consensus on Quinn’s age; however, newspaper accounts with the Baltimore Sun and the National Republican offered a range from sixteen to eighteen.2 Quinn was a farm laborer indentured to the Robinson family in Harford County.3
On September 23, 1869, sixty-five year old Miss Reip, also referred to as Mrs. Catherine Smith, arrived at the Robinson home.4 She was a longtime resident of Baltimore who was in the area visiting friends.5 On the 29th of September, Miss Reip left the Robinson home at two pm to spend the evening with the Kirkwood family.6 On the way to the Kirkwood home, she was attacked from behind, tied to a tree with her own clothing, and sexually assaulted.7 Around five pm, she managed to free herself and reach the Kirkwood home, where Mr. J. H. Kirkwood, also known as R. H. Kirkwood, provided for her well being and brought her back to the Robinson home where she quickly accused Jim Quinn of her attack.8
Mr. Robinson and Mr. Kirkwood quickly located Quinn who was working in the cornfield and locked him in a corn-crib despite his denial of guilt.9 They concluded his guilt because his undergarments were "saturated with the blood of his victim."10 After they left to locate a police officer, Quinn escaped from confinement and fled into Pennsylvania.11 He quickly found employment on a farm.12 He would be recaptured on October 2 by Officer Rozier.13 Newspaper accounts differ on this, with the Baltimore Sun describing him as captured in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania.14 The New York Herald described how he was enticed across the State Line where he was subsequently arrested.15
Quinn was quickly transported to Baltimore County, where he was brought before Justice Rutledge who ordered his confinement in the Towsontown jail.16 The train transporting Quinn to jail stopped at White Hall, where a lynch mob of approximately thirty people seized and lynched him.17 He was reportedly killed around nine pm between Black Horse and Jarrettsville.18 The Baltimore Sun claimed that the mob was comprised of those near where the assault took place, and not those local to White Hall.19 Quinn’s lynching had similarities to prior lynchings with the declaration of guilt and the failure of the officer involved. After the lynching, newspapers reported that Jim Quinn had confessed to his guilt while earlier ones spoke of his maintaining innocence.20 This was typical of lynchings as they gave support to the actions of lynch mobs by trying to explain that the victim was guilty regardless, despite having received no trial. In addition, Officer Rozier is conspicuously absent from the newspaper narrative. His actions when the mob boards the train are unclear, though his failure to protect Jim Quinn likely meant that Rozier did not resist the mob.
Judge Richard Grason convened a court on November 13, 1869, where he spoke against recent lynching and mob violence as taking the law into their own hands.21 He proceeded to call for the murder of Jim Quinn to be looked into and those who participated in the mob to be indicted.22
Notes:
1. "Harford County (Md.) Outrage and Lynching-Further Particulars." The Baltimore Sun, October 9, 1869.
2. "Outrage Upon an Elderly Lady in Harford County by a Negro-Lynch Law." National Republican, October 7, 1869.
3. "Hellish Deed. A Negro Fiend Violates and Nearly Murders a Lady Sixty-Five Years of Age." The Baltimore Sun, October 13, 1869.
4. "Harford County (Md.) Outrage and Lynching-Further Particulars." The Baltimore Sun, October 9, 1869.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. "Hellish Deed. A Negro Fiend Violates and Nearly Murders a Lady Sixty-Five Years of Age." The Baltimore Sun, October 13, 1869.
10. Ibid.
11. "Outrage Upon an Elderly Lady in Harford County by a Negro-Lynch Law." National Republican, October 7, 1869.
12. "Democratic Nomination for Comptroller of the Treasury-Lynching of a Negro." New York Herald, October 8, 1869.
13. "Outrage Upon an Elderly Lady in Harford County by a Negro-Lynch Law." National Republican, October 7, 1869.
14. "Harford County (Md.) Outrage and Lynching-Further Particulars." The Baltimore Sun, October 9, 1869.
15. "Democratic Nomination for Comptroller of the Treasury-Lynching of a Negro." New York Herald, October 8, 1869.
16. "Local Matters." The Baltimore Sun, October 5, 1869.
17. Ibid.
18. "Harford County (Md.) Outrage and Lynching-Further Particulars." The Baltimore Sun, October 9, 1869.
19. Ibid.
20. "Local Matters." The Baltimore Sun, October 5, 1869.
21. "Letter from Belair, Md. Circuit Court-Important Charge to the Grand Jury-Reproval of Lynch Law." The Baltimore Sun, November 11, 1869.
22. Ibid.
Biography written by Study of the Legacy of Slavery Program intern Matthew Novick.
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