Lynching of Jesse Washington - Murder and Arrest

Murder and Arrest

In Robinson, Texas, Lucy Fryer was murdered while alone at her house on May 8, 1916. She and her husband George were English immigrants, and had become well respected in the rural community where they operated a farm. News of the death quickly reached the McLennan County Sheriff, Samuel Fleming, who immediately investigated with a team of law-enforcement officers, a group of local men, and a doctor. The doctor determined that Fryer had been killed by blunt-force trauma to the head. The local men suspected that Jesse Washington, a seventeen-year-old black man who had worked on the Fryers' farm for five months, was responsible; one of them stated that he had seen Washington near the Fryer house a few minutes before Lucy's body was discovered. That night, sheriff's deputies traveled to Washington's home, finding him in front of the house wearing blood-stained overalls. He attributed the stains to a nosebleed. Jesse, his brother William, and their parents were taken to nearby Waco to be questioned by the sheriff's department; although Jesse's parents and brother were released after a short time, he was held for further interrogation. His questioners in Waco reported that he denied complicity in Fryer's death, but offered contradictory details about his actions. Rumors spread after his arrest that he had been in an altercation with a white man a few days before the murder.

On May 9, Fleming brought Washington to Hill County to prevent vigilante action. The Hill County Sheriff, Fred Long, questioned Washington with Fleming; Washington told them he had killed Fryer following an argument about her mules, and described the murder weapon and its location. Long brought Washington to Dallas, Texas, while Fleming returned to Robinson. Fleming soon reported that he found a bloody hammer where Washington had indicated. In Dallas, Washington dictated and signed a statement that described the rape and murder of Fryer; the confession was published the next day in Waco newspapers. Newspapers sensationalized the murder, describing Fryer's attempts to resist Washington's attack, although the doctor who had examined her body concluded that she was killed before she could resist. A lynch mob assembled in Waco that night to search the local jail, but dispersed after they did not find Washington. Nevertheless, a local paper praised their effort. That night, a small private funeral and burial were held for Lucy Fryer.

On May 11, a grand jury was assembled in McLennan County and quickly returned an indictment against Washington; the trial was scheduled for May 15. The Times-Herald of Waco published a notice on May 12 requesting that residents let the justice system determine Washington's fate. Fleming traveled to Robinson on May 13 to ask residents to remain calm; his address was well received. Washington was assigned several inexperienced lawyers. His lawyers prepared no defense, and noted that he appeared placid in the days before the trial.