Retired Cop Investigates 1892 Port Jervis Lynching --A Book Results

Michael Worden, retired from 22 years with Port Jervis Police Department, recently published his book, Lynched By a Mob!, about an 1892 Port Jervis lynching.

Lynching victim Robert Jackson as pictured in New York World newspaper in 1892

Evidence of a relative’s role in events surrounding an 1892 lynching in Port Jervis prompted Michael Worden, retired Port Jervis police sergeant, to investigate. He published a book, Lynched by a Mob!, about the crime, the title echoing a local newspaper headline.

Many middle class Port Jervians joined the mob behind the lynching of Robert Jackson, also known as Robert Lewis. But who was behind the sexual assault of Lena McMahon that inflamed the mob? What became of her, and who carried out the lynching? These were among many questions left for Worden to investigate. The crime immediately became an embarrassment to Port Jervis at a time when northern U.S. cities were expected to have surpassed the South in interracial civility.

Author Michael Worden

Worden grew up in Port Jervis as had many of his ancestors. In addition to his professional interest in solving Port Jervis crimes, he has long been steeped in solving old local crimes and writing books about them, including The Murder of Richard Jennings: The True Story of New York’s First Murder for Hire . Worden recently answered some questions posed by the Tri-State Lookout about writing Lynched By a Mob!

Tri-State Lookout: Given that your grandmother had a stash of clippings about the lynching for so many years, what prompted your decision to start work on the book?

Michael Worden: I have researched the event on and off since 2010, mostly collecting data while researching other crimes. It was a book I had wanted to write, but was unsure of the approach. That changed when my grandmother had her folder of family history out to show me an unrelated document. I saw newspaper accounts of the lynching from 1985 which she had saved, and one of those clippings was about Mary Jane Clarke, my grandmother’s aunt.

Mary Jane worked at a harness factory near the scene of the sexual assault and tended to Lena McMahon in the aftermath. I had heard about Mary Jane and the lynching while growing up, so was aware. Grandma showed me the articles and said that I needed to write a book about this because I would do a good job. I took that as an order, not a suggestion! She passed in July 2021, so I dedicated the book in her memory. 

A sexual assault on Lena McMahon, pictured in the Tri-States Union in 1892, resulted in the lynching of Robert Jackson, although the assailant had not been determined.

TSL: Could you give some examples of the range of places you went to get
information for the book?

MW: As part of my research, I visited a variety of locations to look for information from primary source documents, take photographs, or examine relevant locations in person. As this is a local case, most of the work was done in and around Port Jervis.  The Minisink Valley Historical Society research room, located on the second floor of the Port Jervis Free Library, was one of the most important for my research.  Their large collection includes local city directories, family histories, photographs covering a wide range of years, and many other invaluable resources. The library also holds microfilm of the local newspapers, allowing me to immerse myself in the time periods being covered. 

Another location is the Orange County Clerk’s office in Goshen, where I searched through dozens of boxes of old court records to find anything relevant to the case. This was a very important component of my research because none of those documents had ever been examined by researchers. Newspaper articles about the various court proceedings had been available, but finding the actual records was vital.

In addition to local places like Laurel Grove Cemetery, the location of the old jail, the route taken by the mob, and the lynching site, I also went as far as Cambridge, Malden and Boston, Massachusetts to conduct research on records pertaining to Lena McMahon and her family, and I located and visited their graves.

        

Headline from June 3, 1892 Evening Gazette

TSL: What information was the most challenging to get? To what lengths did
you go for it?

MW: Two particularly challenging areas of research were into the specific details of the daily testimony at the Coroner’s Inquest, and tracking down what had happened to Lena McMahon after 1892.

I was unable to locate a transcript of the Coroner’s Inquest. By law, a transcript should have been made. I was unable to verify that there had existed a transcript, nor was I able to locate one after exhaustive records searches. 

 In order to evaluate the daily testimony of each day, I had to rely upon the local newspapers. In their coverage, they reported on what each witness had testified to. Although there were sometimes subtle differences in language, or details (sometimes one paper covered someone in more detail than others), the content of the testimony published was fairly consistent across different sources. I used the various local news sources and reconstructed the witness testimony one witness at a time. For each witness I detailed their testimony with different colored fonts. Each color was linked to a specific source, which allowed me to compile all of the available testimony for each witness and ensured that the proper sources were noted.  When completed, I had a volume of reconstructed testimony, which was essential to the research into multiple aspects of the case.

 Lena McMahon was difficult to follow for a variety or reasons, including that she had used different names over the years, especially after the events of 1892. I wanted to be able to tell her story, and that involved more than two years of research into her and her family, and included the bizarre events of the summer of 1894, when Lena was wrapped up in a scandal when the decomposing remains of a newborn infant were found in her New York City hotel room. Some of the search involved examining city directories from multiple large cities, such as Boston, looking over death records, and looking at census records.  The work paid off, and I was able complete Lena’s life story and reveal for the first time what had happened to her.

Riot indictments resulting from the lynching

TSL: Despite your family’s deep Port Jervis roots, what did you learn about
Port Jervis that surprised you?

MW: Part of my research involved examining the African American presence in Port Jervis and how they were seen within the community. Port Jervis did not have a large African American presence at the time of the lynching, and many of the African Americans resided together in a squatter’s community called Reservoir View (located just outside of what was then the Village in the Town of Deerpark), and later at Farnumville (also outside the Village line) when the water company relocated the community. 

Those who resided in Reservoir View and later Farnumville were mostly African Americans. However, white people also resided there. There were African Americans who resided in the village and lived and worked alongside their white neighbors. The Port Jervis schools were not segregated, and African American and white children attended school together.  

What seems to have transcended race was a person or family’s socioeconomic status, and this included the African American community.  In 1869, for example, members of the local African American community who lived mostly within the village were raising money to complete a new church. They took out an ad to solicit donations and made sure to differentiate themselves from the African Americans who lived in Reservoir View. 

I was also surprised at just how strikingly different the community could view African Americans, depending upon socioeconomic status. For example, the newspapers celebrated the graduation from the local academy of Eugene West, a young African American man. The West family lived in the village, and the head of the family, Charles West, was employed as the janitor for the local schools. In 1888, Eugene was the first African American to graduate from the local academy. This was at a time when public education was only compulsory between the ages of 8 to 14, and the majority of students did not complete the academy, which would have essentially been similar to high school. Eugene interned with a local physician, went on to Meharry Medical College in Tennessee and had a career as a physician. The local newspapers reported on him with pride, just as they did for other former students who were white. In contrast were the racial slurs and stereotypes used in the press for the poorer African Americans.  

TSL: What in the unfolding of Robert Jackson’s story most surprised you?

MW: A few things surprised me as the story unfolded. The first was the fact that history has misremembered Jackson’s name as being Robert Lewis. He certainly may have used Robert or Bob Lewis at times, but that was not the name he went by for most of his life. Using the name Robert Jackson was, for me, important in order to properly memorialize him.

The biggest surprise was the level of violence exhibited by the mob that night.  The true horror of the event had mostly been lost to time, and I set a goal to recreate the most historically accurate account of the lynching that is possible with the sources available. I believe I accomplished that, documenting and detailing the acts of violence Jackson sustained, as well as the tense moments under the tree when good citizens tried to save him.  The lynching event has never before been described in this level of detail, and I am confident that my account of the event is highly accurate. 

I was also surprised at just how poorly the coroner’s inquest was conducted, and also at how thorough the grand jury evaluation was. Historically, the grand jury has been seen as more of a farce than a legal inquiry. In reconstructing that element of the story, however, I was led to a different conclusion. As for the coroner’s inquest… well that is something that has to be read to be truly understood.

TSL: Could an incident like the lynching happen in Port Jervis now? If so, what might prompt it?

MW: No, I don’t believe it could happen now. The police in 1892 were untrained and unprepared for this incident, and there was no communication between Jackson’s captors and the police until moments before he was brought in front of the jail.  Today, with telecommunications, radios, well trained police officers and the availability of mutual aid from other agencies, this event would not be permitted. Additionally, I believe that society has progressed from the mindset prevalent in 1892 and wouldn’t result in mob violence and instead would allow the criminal justice system to work.

TSL: What would become of a man like Robert Jackson in Port Jervis today?

MW: He would have the benefit of everything that was denied Robert Jackson. He would have the benefit of the presumption of innocence, and the right to have the people prove each and every element of the charged offenses beyond a reasonable doubt. He would have the opportunity to have counsel and to have counsel mount a rigorous defense. He would have the right to confront witnesses. He would have the right for a jury of his peers to determine guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  These are all fundamental rights that Robert Jackson was denied in 1892.

Indictment of O.P. Howell, president of Village of Port Jervis in 1892. Michael Worden found the document in the Orange County Clerk’s office.

TSL: What long term effect did the lynching have on Port Jervis?

MW: The main long term effect is the lingering, unhealed wound that it left. The people in Port Jervis in 1892 and the years after wanted it to be forgotten, and it largely was. What was remembered were mostly half truths and speculation.  It was, and is, an unsolved homicide that has remained in the shadows of our history.  The dedication of the historical marker on the 130^th anniversary of the lynching was a turning point for the community to acknowledge the event, memorialize Robert Jackson, and ensure that it is never forgotten. 

TSL: Did any of your findings conflict with those of Phillip Dray, who recently wrote about the lynching? If so, how?

Phillip’s book and my book are really two different works from two different approaches. If anything, I feel that they should be read together so that the reader gets the full perspective and picture of the event from two different angles.  There may be some minor differences in factual conclusions, but our books are very different and complement one another.