Mingo Jack

Samuel "Mingo Jack" Johnson (c. 1820 – March 5, 1886) was an African American man falsely accused of rape. He was brutally beaten and hanged by a mob of white men in Eatontown, New Jersey.

Biography Johnson was born in Colts Neck in 1820 and was raised as a slave by the Laird family. Because he was short, the family used him as a jockey, and he rode a colt named Chief Mingo to victory, earning him the nickname Mingo Jack. In 1840, New Jersey abolished slavery, and Johnson worked odd jobs in the Eatontown and Middletown areas, living in Eatontown near what is now Route 35 and Poplar Road.

Lynching On Friday, March 5, 1886, a white woman, Angelina Herbert, was raped and beaten. She could not identify her attacker but reported that he had asked her, "Do you know Mingo Jack?" Discovered the following day, Johnson's remains were interred in the cemetery of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Eatontown.

A sham trial for some members of the lynch mob was held, featuring drunken witnesses and a jury that included prominent resident Thomas White, resulting in acquittals for all the defendants. Evidence from the trial, including testimony from Mrs. Herbert, revealed that Johnson could not have been the rapist. No one was convicted for the murder of Johnson, who left behind a wife and five children. Another black man, George or Richard Kearney, later confessed to the rape, although that confession may have been coerced. Kearney later was hanged for the murder of another woman.

alt=The text reads, "Samuel 'Mingo Jack' Johnson lynched without a fair trial at the former site of the Eatontown Lockup, midnight, March 5, 1886. New Jersey's only documented 19th century lynching. The Mango Jack Remembrance Committee: Inice Hennessy, Rodney Jackson, Alden Small Sr., James Stone, Carolyn Storey-Hodge, Rose Terry, Sonny Thornton, Sondra Thompson, The Paranormal Rangers. Honorary Members: Congregation Shaare Tefilah Bene Moshe, Councilman Meir Araman. Plaque memorializing Samuel Johnson, an innocent victim of lynching, placed in Wampum Park in Eatontown, NJ. It includes the line, "New Jersey's only documented 19th century lynching."