Community Corner

Week in History: Inquest Into the Lynching of 'Mingo Jack'

A look through Red Bank Register archives at what happened this week in Monmouth history.

The investigation into the lynching of Eatontown resident Samuel Johnson dominated the front page of the March 17, 1886 issue of the Red Bank Register.

The death of Johnson, an African American and former slave known in the area as "Mingo Jack," is the only documented lynching in New Jersey in the 19th century.

Johnson was accused of beating and raping a white woman named Angeline Herbert. A group of white residents dragged him from jail and beat him to death before hanging him, according to report in The Atlanticville.

Find out what's happening in Red Bank-Shrewsburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

During the inquest described in the Red Bank Register, prosecutors grilled Jacob Coffin, the editor of the Eatontown newspaper called the Advertiser. In an editorial from his newspaper's previous issue, which was introduced into evidence, Coffin called on prosecutors to discontinue the investigation and said during his testimony that the editorial's perspection was shared by "the entire people of his township, with one or two exceptions."

Coffin recalled his conversion with a constable who had come to the newspaper office to discuss Johnson's case on the evening of the lynching. Coffin's testimony is recounted in the Red Bank Register article:

Find out what's happening in Red Bank-Shrewsburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

He told me that public feeling was so strong against the prisoner that he would not be surprised if the keys of the jail were demanded of him before morning. I told him that I wished the crime had been committed in Mississippi or Kentucky, for in those States the assailant would be promptly dealth with.

No charges were ever filed in Johnson's murder and two men later came forward to confess to raping Herbert, according to historian James Stone.

The Mingo Jack Remembrance Committee commissioned a plaque, which was installed in September 2012 near Wampum Lake in Eatontown to mark the historic injustice.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here