William Burns was a mixed-race or black man lynched on October 6, 1907 in Cumberland, Maryland for the murder of white Cumberland police officer August Baker.[1][2]
Officer Baker attempted to arrest Burns, but Burns resisted and shot Baker in a scuffle.[2] Burns was then arrested and taken to the Cumberland Jail.[2] Several days later, Baker died in hospital and a mob of 50 men with their coats turned inside out and handkerchiefs over their faces gathered outside the jail at 12:40am.[2] The mob tore down a telegraph pole and used it to batter down the doors to the jail.[2] Burns was dragged out of his cell after the deputy on duty handed over the keys to the cell at gunpoint.[2] Burns was taken outside "peppered with bullets" and left to die.[2] The crowd wanted to hang Burns, but they couldn't find a rope.[2]
The Allegany County Commissioners offered a reward of $500 for the arrest and conviction of the people who took Burns from the jail.[3] 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.[2]
