Whitfield County Jail and the Lynching of A.L. McCamy, 1936

Introduction

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The Whitfield County Jail was built near this location in the early 1900s and was torn down in 1976. On September 6, 1936, a mob came to this location and captured 21-year-old A.L. McCamy and lynched him rather than allow him to stand trial for allegedly touching a white woman and a 10-year-old white girl on two separate occasions.

Images

Whitfield County Jail in the 1920s

Backstory and Context

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On the early morning of September 6,1936 at 1:30 a.m. in Dalton, Georgia, 150 men stormed into the Whitfield County jail searching for A.L. McCamy. The mob forced the jailer on duty that night, John Pitt, at gun point to relieve his keys to the mob. The mob was searching for A.L. McCamy due to being accused of touching a white woman.

According to the New York Times September 7th issue in 1936, the alledged victim "screamed when the Negro touched her causing him to run out of the house." McCamy was found four hours later on the side of the street beneath the tree used during his lynching by Sheriff J.T. Bryan. He had previously completed a sentence for an attempt attack on a 10-year-oldgirl.

Sources

New York Times, September 7 1936. Photo credit: Georgia Archives, http://cdm.georgiaarchives.org:2011/cdm/singleitem/collection/vg2/id/17081/rec/13