We Remember Tyler Lynching Memorial Project

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Officers Intercepted, Negro Lynched In Downtown Tyler, TX

Smith County Jail, Tyler, TX, Built In 1881

1890 - WE REMEMBER JOHN AMBROSE


On Thursday, March 13, 1890, the Brenham Weekly Banner reported the lynching of a Black man in Tyler, Texas.

The article read, “John Ambrose, colored, was being carried from the jail to the new courthouse at Tyler to be tried on a charge of attempted outrageous assault on a young lady, Frank Perry, the young lady's brother, and J. J. Hamilton, her cousin, intercepted the officer and killed the negro.”

Further research led to an account in the Texas Christian Advocate reading, “While the Sheriff was taking John Ambrose, a negro charged with assault upon a young lady, into court, at Tyler, the lady's brother, Frank Perry, shot the negro five times, killing him.”

Perry acted as judge, jury, and executioner of Ambrose.



Source:

  1. Brenham Weekly Banner, March 13, 1890

  2. Texas Christian Advocate, March 13, 1890