Lynching in America and Terre Haute — Part 3

Lynching in America and Terre Haute — Part 3 ... Is silence in face of injustice still possible?
By Gary Daily | Special to the Tribune-Star
Last of three parts

“Death at the hands of persons unknown.”

George Ward was lynched in Terre Haute on Feb. 26, 1901. He was arrested in connection with the murder of an 18-year-old teacher, Ida Finklestein, at his workplace the morning of the 26th and lynched that same afternoon.


There is no such thing as a typical lynching victim. Yet every lynching in America (4,000 to 6,000 since 1865 — and the count goes on) is the same in one important way. Lynching is an illegal act, an injustice. George Ward and Ida Finklestein were both denied justice. A mob murdered Ward, and the young teacher’s assailant, whomever it might have been, was never investigated, arrested, or prosecuted under the law.

As so many of the coroner and judicial accounts of lynchings in the past would state in their reports, both George Ward and Ida Finklestein died “... at the hands of persons unknown.”

Eighteen documented lynchings have taken place in the state of Indiana. The Ward lynching is the only one in the history of Terre Haute. Important facts surrounding Ward’s lynching, in official documents, in news accounts and personal testimony, are few, sketchy, missing, lost, never collected. Descriptions of this violent lawlessness primarily come from the newspapers of the day.

At the turn of the 20th century, newspaper reports of lynchings were sensational, using heated language in their descriptions of crimes committed and the alleged perpetrators. The stories were often overtly racist. In the white press, in northern as well as southern newspapers, you would find headlines targeting lynching victims as “Negro ruffian,” “colored cannibal,” “dissolute Negress” and “African Annie.”

The Terre Haute Gazette ran this headline after George Ward’s lynching: “THE BLACK BRUTE KILLED BY A MOB.” The paper went on to introduce readers to the story: “A DETAILED STORY OF THE FIEND’S AWFUL CRIME.” When the lynch victims were Black, they were always assumed to be guilty.

Keeping this in mind, here is all that can be said with any assurance on the lynching of George Ward.

After George Ward’s arrest, he was taken to the Vigo County jail. In less than two hours, between noon and 1 p.m., a mob formed outside of the jail. He was seized by a group from this mob who broke through the jail door. It’s possible Ward was killed by a sledge hammer blow to the head by someone from this group. None of those breaking into the jail tried to hide their identity.


George Ward was then dragged at the end of a rope to the Wabash River Wagon Bridge which was four blocks away. He was kicked and possibly shot while being hauled through the growing crowd. None of those who dragged him or defiled his body as it passed them tried to hide their identity.

George Ward’s body was hanged from a cross bar on the bridge. None of those who looped the noose of wire and rope around his neck or helped to hoist the body until it left the ground to swing over the Wabash River tried to hide their identity.

George Ward’s body was soon cut down and taken to a sandbar on the west side of the river. His body was placed in a horizontal position on top of a pile of branches and wood planks. This pile was set on fire and turpentine and coal oil was added to fuel the flames. None of those who set and fueled this fire tried to hide their identity.

George Ward’s body burned for hours until it crumbled and fell apart. Some took away pieces of clothes, shoes, and bones as souvenirs. The souvenir scavengers are not known. However, a grainy photo of locals posing around the fire consuming Ward’s body was taken. None of those in this photo have ever been identified.

George Ward was a 27-year-old Black man, a steady worker, literate, married three years, and the father of two young children. The mob which took part in his lynching was white and included men, women and children. The mob’s size was estimated at between 1,000 and 2,000. Not one person in this mob ever came forward to report on their participation in the lynching of George Ward.

The Facing Injustice project in Terre Haute was organized in 2018 under the auspices of the Greater Terre Haute NAACP Branch. It has worked with the nationally known Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, to bring an historical marker to the Vigo County community. This marker will serve as a remembrance of the George Ward lynching, a difficult and too real part of our community’s and nation’s history.

Until now, more than 120 years later, there was no indication of the crime committed near this site in 1901. At that time — the law, church leaders and their congregations, the community at large — were essentially silent. This historical marker should serve to raise a question in each of us: Is such silence in the face of injustice still possible today?

On Sept. 26, 2021, at 3 p.m. in Fairbanks Park, the George Ward marker will be installed and dedicated. The marker will be the first of its kind in the state of Indiana. Open to the public, all are invited to attend. You can be a part of this historic event.

Gary Daily is Associate Professor Emeritus, Department of History and African American Studies, Indiana State University. He is a member of the local Facing Injustice project. This column represents his research and views and not those of any group or organization.

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Published in Terre Haute Tribune Star, Sept. 22, 2021

Lynching -- Part 3