Conflicting Reports of a Double Lynching Involving Ed Moy

On October 11, 1915, newspapers reported that a masked mob in Clarksdale, Mississippi, took Ed Moy, a Chinese suspect, and a Black suspect from jail after the killing of banker A. H. Cage and lynched them. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) mused, “Just to prove they are not moved by any narrow race prejudice a party of Mississippi gentlemen lynched a Chinaman.” The Oregon Daily Journal and The Watchman and Southron both printed the double-lynching account. But the next day The Vicksburg Post denied that either man had been lynched, reporting instead that Ed Moy had crawled back to town and that the other suspect remained at large. This is not the only case where local newspapers denied reports of a lynching, either because the facts of the case were embarrassing or were misreported. While widely reported, news articles differed on whether the two men were lynched, severely whipped, or unhurt. One report described a large gathering of white citizens deploring the violence. The same article denied reports that the two men were lynched, which, taken together, suggest a community intent on denying the facts of the case. If true, it is the last documented lynching of a Chinese person in the United States.