Lynching of Charles Atkins
| Part of Jim Crow Era | |
News coverage of the lynching of Charles Atkins | |
| Date | May 18, 1922 |
|---|---|
| Location | Davisboro, Washington County, Georgia |
| Participants | Large white mob, 2,000 strong |
| Deaths | Charles Atkins |
Charles Atkins was a 15-year-old African-American boy who was lynched in Davisboro, Washington County, Georgia by a mob on May 18, 1922. According to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary it was the 25th of 61 lynchings during 1922 in the United States. [1]
Background
Elizabeth "Billy" Kitchens, 24, served as a rural mail carrier.[2] While driving her car, 4 miles (6.4 km) from Davisboro, someone pushed their way into her vehicle, placed a shotgun against her head and fired, killing her instantly.[3] Her body was then dragged 50 yards (46 m) away.[4] A local farmer, Sid Lewis, found the body 30 minutes after the shooting and informed Sheriff English at Sandersville, Georgia.
Lynching
A mob made up of 2,000 people found Charles Atkins in Elizabeth Kitchens's car. Around 6:00 PM, May 18, 1922, he was tortured with fire until he confessed to killing Elizabeth Kitchens for her automobile. He then implicated another boy, John Henry Tarver. Atkins was then hanged and his charred body was shot over 200 times.[4] Hundreds of cars then swarmed the county looking for Tarver and another Black person, George Clark, who had been seen with Tarver. A grand jury later indicted J. B. Miller, John Henry Tarver, and three of Charlie Atkins's family members, his father Gainer Atkins, his stepmother Ella Atkins, and his mother Sim Atkins, for complicity in the murder of Elizabeth Kitchen. Gainer Atkins was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. He was granted a retrial by the Supreme Court of Georgia in 1923.[5]
Bibliography
Notes
- ^ United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary 1926, p. 17.
- ^ The West Virginian, May 23, 1922, p. 1.
- ^ New York Times, May 19, 1922, p. 1.
- ^ a b The Pensacola Journal, May 19, 1922, p. 1.
- ^ "Adkins v. State". vLex. October 9, 1923. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
- "Negro Boy Tortured and Burned at Stake In Georgia After Killing White Woman". New York Times. May 19, 1922. ISSN 1553-8095. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
- "Georgia Negro burned at the stake". The Pensacola Journal. Pensacola, Escambia, Florida: Mayes & Co. May 19, 1922. pp. 1–8. ISSN 1941-109X. OCLC 16280864. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
- United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (1926). "To Prevent and Punish the Crime of Lynching: Hearings Before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on S. 121, Sixty-Ninth Congress, First Session, on Feb. 16, 1926". United States Government Publishing Office. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
- "Her murderer lynched by mob". The West Virginian. Fairmont, Marion, West Virginia: Fairmont Printing and Publishing Company. May 23, 1922. pp. 1–10. ISSN 2576-6228. OCLC 14450054. Retrieved February 25, 2022.