In the late autumn of 1927, in Wise, Virginia, the life of a 35-year-old white male named Hershel Deaton came to a violent and tragic end. On the night of November 27th, Deaton, a mine foreman, was shot and killed in Jenkins, Kentucky, a town just across the state line. The circumstances surrounding his death quickly escalated, setting in motion a grim series of events that would culminate in further tragedy.
Following Deaton's death, law enforcement officers arrested Leonard Woods, an
African American coal miner from Jenkins, Kentucky, as the primary suspect in the murder. To prevent potential mob violence, Woods was moved from Jenkins to a jail in Whitesburg, Kentucky. However, this precaution proved futile. On the day of Hershel Deaton's funeral, a large and determined mob of approximately 400 white men from Virginia descended upon the Whitesburg jail.
The mob overpowered the jailers and forcibly took Leonard Woods into their custody. They transported him to the Virginia-Kentucky state line, where their fury was unleashed. Woods was hanged, shot, and his body was then burned. In the aftermath of this brutal lynching, no one was ever arrested or charged for the murder of Leonard Woods. The investigation into Hershel Deaton's death was effectively closed with the death of the man accused of the crime, leaving a dark chapter in the history of the region.
