Note 57 — Chapter II · Origin of the Term Lynch-law

Charles Augustus Murray, in his “Travels in North America during the years 1834, 1835, and 1836” (2 vol., N. Y., 1839), gives a traditional account of the origin of the term “lynch-law,” such a one as might be given around a camp-fire. He also describes the operation of lynch-law at that time in the Mississippi Valley. See Vol II, p. 79. G. W. Featherstonhaugh, in his “Excursion through the Slave States” (N. Y., 1844), gives “An account of the first Judge Lynch, and the state of Legal Practice in his Court,” pp. 89–90. He speaks of a certain Judge Lynch in Arkansas and of “a famous Virginia ancestor of his.” He says that “this ancestor, the first Judge Lynch, was a miller and a justice of the peace in the back woods,” and then gives a traditional account of his methods of inflicting punishment. See also David Schenck: “North Carolina, 1780–81” (1889), pp. 309–310. L. P. Summers: “History of Southwest Virginia and Washington County” (1903), p. 243.