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Ah Yo Was Thrown into the River and Shot to Death

Date:May 5, 1885
Location:Clarksdale, Mississippi
Event Type:Lynching
Victim Names:Ah Yo
Victim Gender:Male
No. of Victims:1
Accusation:Attempted rape
Killing Method:Gunshot (after beating)
Compiled By:Beck-Tolnay Inventory

Narrative

In May 1885, Ah Yo, an elderly Chinese man at Friars Point, Mississippi, was beaten, driven from town, thrown into the river, and shot when he failed to drown. The Vicksburg Post called him “an old, decrepit, harmless Chinaman” and reported an inquest verdict naming P. J. Murphy and Pat Reynolds as the shooters. Papers like the Harrisburg Telegraph and the Chicago Tribune emphasized the town’s division between those who wanted to shield the vigilantes and those who wanted the law enforced. The case became one of the most widely reprinted anti-Chinese lynchings of the 1880s and one of the clearest southern instances of the slogan-like sentiment that “the Chinese must go.” This case is included in the Beck-Tolnay inventory of Southern lynchings.

Related Newspaper Article(s)

Ah Yo, a Chinaman, Thrown Into the River and Shot

The Vicksburg Post (Vicksburg, Mississippi)

May 14, 1885 (Page 2)

Ah Yo, a 70-year-old Chinese man, was falsely suspected of misconduct after petting a child. Beaten and threatened by townspeople, he attempted to flee but was thrown into a river and shot to death. A jury identified the killers as P. J. Murphy and Pat Reynolds, with only Murphy apprehended.

Lawlessness in Arkansas

Harrisburg Telegraph (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)

May 16, 1885 (Page 1)

A Friars Point mob in Arkansas beats an elderly Chinese man accused of insulting a girl, hurls him into the Mississippi River, then shoots him when he will not drown. The town splits between residents shielding the vigilantes and those demanding prosecution.

The Chinese Must Go

Santa Cruz Surf and Superior California Farmer (Santa Cruz, California)

May 16, 1885 (Page 3)

Santa Cruz papers reprint the Friars Point lynching: self-appointed whites throw an old Chinese man into the Mississippi, then shoot him. Vigilantes justify the killing as defense of a white girl, while other townspeople dispute the claim and note the perpetrators’ social prominence.

The Chinese Must Go

Santa Cruz Surf (Santa Cruz, California)

May 16, 1885 (Page 3)

Friars Point, MS vigilantes beat an elderly Chinese man, threw him in the Mississippi River and, when he did not drown fast enough, shot him dead after rumors he’d “insulted” a white girl.

A Chinaman Lynched

Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois)

May 16, 1885 (Page 3)

From Helena: report from Friar’s Point says an elderly Chinese man was beaten, thrown into the river, and then shot; justification claimed by assailants is disputed; body recovered and some arrests reported; town split over shielding suspects vs. enforcing the law.

A Chinaman Lynched

The Morning Democrat (Los Angeles, California)

May 17, 1885 (Page 1)

At Friars Point, Mississippi River vigilantes beat an elderly Chinese man, dump him off a wharf, then shoot him when he fails to drown; town splits between shielding the killers and demanding justice.