On January 2, 1923, a mob of White men, including members of the Ku Klux Klan, searching for a wanted Black man named Jesse Hunter, kidnaped, tortured, shot, and hanged Sam Carter (????–1923) of Rosewood, Florida, a Black man whom the mob suspected had helped Jesse Hunter escape. This incident was part of a five-day reign of terror on Rosewood that started on January 1st when a married White woman, Fannie Taylor of Sumner, Florida, said a Black man had assaulted her. Because Jesse Hunter had escaped from a chain gang, law enforcement and the White mob assumed, without evidence, that he was the man who had assaulted Fannie Taylor, and they assumed residents of Rosewood were hiding him or had helped him escape. On January 4th, the residents of Rosewood armed themselves and fought back when the mob returned for the fourth day. The terror ended on January 5th when the mob of more than 200 White men attacked the community of Rosewood, killing more than 30 Black men, women, and children and burning the town to the ground. Remaining survivors fled the town and later recounted that Fannie Taylor had used the accusation against Jesse Hunter to conceal an extramarital relationship with a White man. The acts of terror became known as the Rosewood Massacre.
Sam had worked in Rosewood as a blacksmith.