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threatened progressive whites as well as Blacks and that had to be fought.
The preceding generalizations — that the lynching of George Armwood was
a ritual act of racial-ethnic oppression and that it was initially met with indulgence
by the white power structure of the state — need verification. This verification can
easily be provided by a summary of the events surrounding Armwood's murder.
On the evening of October 18, after a short skirmish with the 25 state police,
a group of whites pulled George Armwood from the jail in Princess Anne,
Maryland, in which he was awaiting trial. During the altercation with the mob, the
police used tear gas but not their firearms. With a rope around his neck, Armwood
was displayed before a waiting crowd of 2,000 to 5,000 whites. After chants of
"Don't kill him yet," he was savagely beaten, then dragged through the streets and
hung. Armwood was probably dead even before he was hung, but the lynching
continued unabated. After a period of perhaps a half hour or more, the body was
cut down, dragged again in a parade through the streets, then hung again. Finally,
Armwood's body was cut down and set on fire. After the fire burned out, his body
was dragged to a lumber yard and disgarded.4
As observers noted, the whole lynching process took place in an atmosphere
of white community festivity, and souvenirs were sought by those involved after the
carnival was over. Members of the mob stole gold fillings from the teeth of the
corpse. The hanging rope was cut up, and pieces were passed out with ends
carefully tied to prevent unraveling. The empty tear gas canisters became highly
prized items. When more mementos of the occasion were demanded, the wooden
pole that had served as a battering ram at the jail was sawed into short sections and
distributed.^
What was the reason for this carnage? George Armwood, who was said to
have mental disabilities (he was "feeble-minded" in the delightful rubric of the day),
was murdered because he was accused of, and apparently confessed to, assaulting
an elderly white woman. The woman, Mrs. Denston, had been walking on a lonely
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