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| Baltimore Afro-American, 25-April-1925 |
In Briston, Virginia, a mob of one thousand whites hunted for a black man accused of raping an eleven-year-old white girl. The police arrested two African American men before the girl confessed that she made up the story because she was late for school.
VIRGINIA MOB
OF 1,000 SEEKS
FAKE RAPIST
Crowd All Set For Lynching When Girl Confesses
Hoax
INNOCENT MEN FREE
"Didn't Know I'd Cause All
This Excitement," wails Girl
Briston, Va. -- A mob of 1,000 persons aided by the entire police force and accompanied by bloodhounds gave up a search of a colored man supposed to have committed rape upon an 11 year old white girl last week after they found out it was a joke.
In the meantime nearly evey foot of nearby counties was searched over, homes of colored persons entered and persons on the street held up in the effort to find traces of the alleged assailant.
The girl was 11 year-old Thelma McCary She came to the Sixh Street filling station about 1:15 Monay afternoon and told several men a colored man had attacked her on the road a few hundred yards away in broad day light.
The child semed to be in a nervous state and her clothing was torn.
In the next half hour, the entire white citizenry turneout and formed a mob.
According to the child's story, she was on her way back home from school to get a geography when a colored man who stopped her suddenly stepped from behing a large rock by the roadside, confronted her and told her that someone on the knobs wanted to see her. This was not more than 20 feet away from the roadway of the Sixth street extension. The child, badly frightened, tried to back away but the Negro seized her and placed a large
revolver against her chest and warned her not to scream. In his struggle to subdue her he choked her and ripped her clothes from her shoulders. When she finally pulled from his grasp, the child ran, fearing to look back. She crossed the foot-bridge across Beaver Creek and kept going until she met a man on the railway. He accompanied her to the Sixth Street filling station where a call was put in for the officers.
News Spread Quickly
News of the occurrence spread like wildfire over Bristol and in less than an hour after the attack more than 100 men were assisting police in effort to locate and arrest the Negro. Two Negroes were arrested as a result of telephone calls made to nearby places by local police. One of these was at Blunt City and another at Bluntville. The little girl was taken to both places by Officers WJ Rogers and Paul Saker but was unable to identify either of the two Negroes who were subsequently released.
Assailant Minutely Described
The child described her assailant as follows: light complexion, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, dressed in gray suit, gray flat-top hat, white shirt with blue stripes, tan shoes and a bow tie. He is said to have a mole on the right-hand cheek near the nose.
When the grim-faced body of men heard the pathetic story from the lips of the little child it broght tears to the eyes of a number of the crowd. Owners of twenty-five automobiles offered themselves at once and the search began.
Confession is Made
Then in the midst of all this turmoil came Thelma's confession. She said no one attacked her, that she spread the alarm because she was late for school and was afraid her father would whip her for it.
"I tore my dress to help make the men believe me."
"I am sorry I told anything about such an occurence for I did not know it would cause all of this trouble or I would never have told the tale."
