Murder of a Negro Woman

While "negroes" are fighting for rights as a whole, there is still crime within the race.

Murder of a Negro Woman. Halifax, Va., May 26, 1868. The recent rains, succeeded by an unusually warm sun, will endanger the wheat somewhat from rust; but we must hope for [the best. The loss of this staple, or its serious injury, would tell sadly upon our prostrated people. Monday was our County Court, though the day developed nothing worth recording. The dead body of a negro woman was found in the woods about four miles from New's Ferry station on Thursday morning last. The evidence elicited before a coroner's jury was to the effect that she had been robbed and beaten by three unknown negroes, still at large. Whether the beating was the immediate cause of her death remains a matter of conjecture, as the body exhibited no marks of a character likely to result in death. The occurrence is somewhat involved in mystery. The negroes seem to have very little feeling for one another, as cases of robbery and ill-treat-ment are constantly occurring amongst them.

“Murder of a Negro Woman,” Reconstructing Virginia, accessed June 1, 2023, https://reconstructingvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1047.