Mingo Jack

Samuel "Mingo Jack" Johnson (c. 1820 – March 5, 1886) was an African American man falsely accused of rape.

Shortly before midnight, a mob of 12 to 20 men[2] gathered outside the jail, fired a pistol through the window, and wielded a pickax and sledgehammer to break down the heavy door.

The mob brutally beat and clubbed Johnson, breaking his skull and gouging out one eye before hanging him from the bars across the jailhouse window.

[4] 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.

[3] In 2012, Mayor Gerald Tarantolo issued a public apology for the failure of security at the jail, calling the lynching "a low point in the history of Eatontown".

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."