Lynching of Alex Smith

Alex Smith was a 60-year-old African-American man who was lynched in Gulfport, Harrison County, Mississippi by unknown attackers on March 22, 1922. According to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary it was the 19th of 61 lynchings during 1922 in the United States.

Background

Alex or Alexander Smith, from the Bayou Bernard bridge area, allegedly ran "a house of ill fame" that was raided early 1922 on the fringes of Gulfport. News reports at the time state that inside, "white girls and young white men" were found. He was released and under bond to appear for his trial.

Lynching

Smith was seized and the coroner's report stated that he "came to his death by strangulation and pistol wounds at the hands of unknown persons" on March 22, 1922. His body was found hanging from a bridge with multiple bullet wounds. Newspapers at the time stated that the Ku Klux Klan was rumored to have had a "party" to execute Smith.