Milwaukee city leaders held dedication ceremony in Third Ward for lynching victim

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- What will forever be a scar on Milwaukee's history has a new place in today's world. City Leaders held a dedication ceremony in the Third Ward on Wednesday, Oct. 11, where Milwaukee's only lynching took place in 1861.

"Today is not a celebration day or a joyous day, but a day to honor the life of George Marshall Clark," said Randy Bryant, Chairman of the Milwaukee Landmark's Committee. 

The Milwaukee County Landmarks Committee says there are no known photos of George Marshall Clark. From the bronze plaque that now sits along Buffalo Street, we learn he was lynched in 1861. It was retaliation by a mob after a fight that killed a Third Ward saloon owner, a murder Clark didn't commit. 

"They beat him severely and dragged him to this area where he was hung on a pile driver, police arrested six men for their role during the riot, but none were convicted," said Bryant. 

Bryant told a crowd gathered for the dedication ceremony on Wednesday that the 24-year-old was born as a free man in Pennsylvania, moved to Milwaukee to take a job as an assistant barber at his father's shop, and had a horrific ending three years later. 

"And as we stand here it's unimaginable, it really is, to think what transpired here on this block back in 1861," said Mayor Cavalier Johnson. 

George Marshall Clark was buried here at Forest Home Cemetery with no headstone. More than 160 years later, a young man from Milwaukee changed that.

"I did an independent study and that led me to hearing about the story," said Tyrone Randle Jr. 

Randle wondered about Clark, so much that he decided to find Clark's final resting place. What he had found upset him.

"We didn't find a headstone there which changed the mission, it was no more about spreading the word, but more so about rectifying something that had happened in the past," said Randle. 

Randle worked with others, just like the Milwaukee County Landmarks Committee did in the Third Ward. Two men, both working to right a wrong of the past. Ultimately, Randle was able to give George Marshall Clark a headstone, and as Randle looks on at this latest recognition for Clark in the third ward, he is overwhelmed with joy. 

"We've been pushing for this for so long, so I'm like, I am full," said Randle.