On October 11, 1878, Posey County, Indiana, near the town of Mount Vernon, became the site of the largest reported lynching in the state’s history when a white mob brutally lynched Jim Good, Jeff Hopkins, Ed Warner, William Chambers, Dan Harris, Jr., John Harris and Dan Harris, Sr., who were accused of sexually assaulting three sex workers in a local brothel.
The Events Leading Up to the Lynching
The tragedy began with a report on October 7, 1878, in Mount Vernon newspapers, alleging that a group of Black men had sexually assaulted three white sex workers at a brothel. Law enforcement quickly listed Jim Good, Jeff Hopkins, Ed Warner, William Chambers, John Harris, and Dan Harris, Jr. as suspects. Officers arrested Good, Hopkins, Warner, and Chambers and held them in jail awaiting trial. Meanwhile, Dan Harris, Jr. and John Harris were lynched by white mobs before officers could apprehend them.
When officers arrived at the home of Dan Harris, Sr., searching for his sons, they were unaware that his two sons, Dan Harris, Jr. and John Harris had already been lynched. Dan was burned to death in the firebox of a locomotive, while John was murdered and stuffed into the hollow of a tree. Confronted by the officers, Harris, Sr. denied harboring his sons, but they insisted that he was lying. The encounter escalated, resulting in Harris, Sr. shooting Deputy Sheriff Cyrus Thomas. In the ensuing altercation, Harris, Sr. was shot and taken into custody at the same jail where the other suspects were held. Deputy Sheriff Thomas succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
Dan Harris, Sr.‘s shooting of the officer likely stemmed from the emotional trauma of witnessing his son’s lynching, combined with a heightened sense of fear for his own life. His actions can be seen as a desperate, emotional response to the trauma and injustice he had just endured.
The Lynching of October 11, 1878
As the news of the arrests spread, a mob gathered outside the jail, demanding the prisoners be handed over. Despite the growing crowd, officers initially refused to release the men. Rumors of militia intervention led to 200 armed white men stationing themselves at the local train depot, preventing any militia from arriving. However, no militia arrived, and by the afternoon of October 11, the crowd dispersed.
That night, the mob reconvened. Around 100 masked men stormed the jail, overpowering the guards and breaking through the iron doors after 45 minutes of relentless effort. Once inside, they dragged Good, Hopkins, Warner, and Chambers from their cells. Dan Harris, Sr., who was already gravely injured from the earlier shootout, was subjected to an even more gruesome fate.
The mob dismembered Harris, Sr., taking pieces of his body as souvenirs—a horrific practice that was disturbingly common in the era of racial terror lynchings. The body parts of lynching victims were often collected and kept as souvenirs, to serve as both a display of power and a means of terrorizing the Black community.
There are historical accounts from similar incidents where the body parts of lynched victims were not only kept as trophies but also consumed in acts of cannibalism. While specific details regarding the consumption of Harris, Sr.’s body are not documented, such acts were not unheard of during this period.
After dismembering Harris, Sr., the mob hanged Good, Hopkins, Warner, and Chambers from a large tree outside the jail on the courthouse lawn and riddled their bodies with bullets. Their bodies remained hanging until the next day, drawing crowds from neighboring counties. Despite the clear identity of the perpetrators, no one was ever arrested or held accountable for the lynchings.
Legacy and Commemoration
The brutal lynching of these men remains a somber reminder of racial violence and injustice. Ed Warren, Jeff Hopkins, Jim Good, William Chambers, and Dan Harris, Sr. are memorialized at the Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice on the Indiana marker. In October 2022, Posey County recognized this dark chapter by dedicating a historical marker and a granite bench outside the Posey County Courthouse to honor the memory of the victims.
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