Fayette County Courthouse Riot photographs

Three photographs show angry protestors and National Guard troops outside the Fayette County courthouse during a riot in 1894. The first photograph measures 4 x 6 (10.16 x 15.24 cm); the others are 8" x 10" (20.32 x 25.4 cm). Rioting erupted at the courthouse following the trial of William Dolby, a biracial man accused of raping a white woman in Washington Court House. Dolby pleaded guilty and was sentenced to twenty years at the Ohio Penitentiary. The crowd, however, demanded that Dolby be lynched for the crime. Governor William McKinley, who later became president of the United States, sent out the National Guard to protect Dolby. On the morning of October 17, 1894, the National Guard troops, led by Colonel Alonzo B. Coit, ordered the crowd to disperse. The crowd continued to shout and began ramming the courthouse doors. Coit and his troops fired at the crowd through the doors of the courthouse, killing six men and wounding a dozen others. Bullet holes are still visible in the wooden doors of the courthouse