Queer Places:
14 Queen St, Charleston, SC 29401
Club 49 Bar, 368 King St, Charleston, SC 29401
Greenlawn Memorial Gardens
Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, USA
Jack Dobbins (November 17, 1928 - November 1, 1958) was born in Spindale, Rutherford County, North Carolina, the son of William Boyd Dobbins (1908–1972) and Fannie Lou Alma Bland Blalock (1912–1991).
On Halloween night, 1958, in Charleston, South Carolina, Jack Dobbins met a young man by the name of John Mahon, a service man stationed at the local air force base, at a night club for the LGBTQ+ community, Club 49 Bar, that the straight community would also frequent. After what would appear to be a night of fun and flirting, Jack and John went to Jack’s home on Queen Street. The night ended in with the atrocious murder of Jack with a brass candle stick and John was put on trial for Jack’s murder.
When Mahon went on trial for murder in December, the newspaper noted that Dobbins was artistic, had a flair for home décor, often went to the Gibbes Art Gallery, and was never seen with women. Even the color of his bed linens (lavender) was noted, all underscoring (but never openly declaring) the gay identity of the victim. Mahon, in contrast, was portrayed as a normal young man in the military, defending his country. After some deliberation, Mahon was found innocent of the murder, justified in his actions against a deviant. Although the local paper did run an editorial referring to the murder and the robbery of another gay man, asking for tolerance for all, it nevertheless warned the public of the corrupting influences of depraved gay people. The after effects of this event resonated for years. A Citadel professor was fired because his name appeared in the victim’s address book, the gay owners of a local bookstore were questioned, and gay people in Charleston, especially young gay men coming to terms with their identity, were put on notice that their city would turn against them should their sexual orientation be revealed.
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