This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/20/2021
A lynching photograph depicting the Clifton Forge Tragedy, 17 October 1891. Albumen print (6 ½ x 4 ¼”) on original S.S. Griffith & Co. studio mount, depicting three African American miners hanging from a tree in Clifton Forge, Virginia. On the morning of October 17, 1891, Charles Miller, John Scott, William Scott, and Robert Burton traveled to Clifton Forge from nearby Big Hill, visiting the local drinking establishments. They were soon unwelcomed in this area by the local law enforcement who claimed they were “noisy and profane”, quickly chasing them out of town. After several parties exchanged gun shots, the crew surrendered to police and were detained in the city prison cell. Shortly before 10 o’clock, a mob of 300 men gathered at city hall to inform the mayor that the four men were to be lynched. The mob murdered the men and left their bodies hanging from trees in a part of the town known as Slaughter Pen Hollow. See Roanoke Times, 20 October 1891.