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Part of a series on the
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Massacres and riots Opelousas massacre Rock Springs massacre Thibodaux massacre Spring Valley Race Riot of 1895 Phoenix election riot Wilmington insurrection of 1898 Pana riot Robert Charles riots Evansville race riot Atlanta Massacre of 1906 Springfield race riot of 1908 Johnson–Jeffries riots 1912 racial conflict in Forsyth County 1917 Chester race riot East St. Louis riots Elaine massacre Red Summer Chicago race riot of 1919 Washington race riot of 1919 Ocoee massacre Tulsa race massacre Perry race riot Rosewood massacre
Reactions Anti-lynching movement Exodusters movement Atlanta Compromise Niagara Movement NAACP Great Migration Back to Africa movement
Related topics Black genocide Civil rights movement (1865–1896) Civil rights movement (1896–1954) Mass racial violence in the United States
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William Burns was a 22-year-old African-American man who was lynched on October 6, 1907, in Cumberland, Maryland, for the alleged murder of white Cumberland police officer August Baker.

Several newspapers at the time account that Officer Baker attempted to arrest Burns, and that Burns allegedly resisted and shot Baker in a scuffle. Burns was then arrested and taken to the Cumberland Jail. Several days later, Baker died in hospital and a mob of men with their coats turned inside out and handkerchiefs over their faces gathered outside the jail at 12:40 am. The mob tore down a telegraph pole and used it to batter down the doors to the jail. One account reports that Burns was dragged out of his cell after the deputy on duty handed over the keys to the cell at gunpoint. Burns was taken outside "peppered with bullets" and left to die. The crowd wanted to hang Burns, but they could not find a rope.

The Allegany County Commissioners offered a reward of $500 for the arrest and conviction of the people who took Burns from the jail. Benjamin A. Richmond, an associate of Governor Lloyd Lowndes Jr. stated that a number of prominent men from Cumberland and vicinity were involved in the lynching.

References

1. Sutton, Dana Z. (May 4, 2007). "William Burns Lynched in Cumberland, October 6, 1907". Biographical Series. Maryland State Archives. pp. MSA SC 3520-13759. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
2. ^ "Burns Lynched: Negro Slayer of Policeman Taken From Jail By Mob". Baltimore Sun. October 6, 1907. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
3. "Rewards". Frostburg Mining Journal. October 12, 1907. Retrieved May 12, 2015.

• 1907 deaths
• 1907 in Maryland
• Allegany County, Maryland
• Lynching deaths in Maryland
• Racially motivated violence against African Americans
• October 1907 events
• 1907 murders in the United States