Abe Smith
Abe Smith, a Black man held in the Grant County Jail in Marion, Indiana, was taken from the jail by a mob in August 1930 and killed, according to the Associated Negro Press, the Richmond Planet and historian Jim Madison; accounts differ on his age, on the date (August 7 or 15) and on the method of his death, with one describing a hanging from a tree on the courthouse square and another a fall from a third-floor window. Madison said the sheriff had police officers present but did not fire on the crowd, and the Richmond Planet reported that police did not fire on the mob. Indiana's attorney general, James M. Ogden, moved to remove Sheriff Jacob Campbell from office for failing in his duty and filed charges against seven alleged members of the mob; a grand jury returned no indictments and exonerated the sheriff.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed; neglect alleged). The NAACP says a mob took Abe Smith from the Grant County jail and lynched him, while the Associated Negro Press says the mob threw him from a third-floor window and strangled him, and Prof. Jim Madison says they hanged him from a tree; the NAACP criticizes the sheriff for allowing the prisoners to be taken, the attorney general moved to remove Sheriff Jacob Campbell for failing in his duty, and the Associated Negro Press says police did not fire on the mob to protect the prisoners.
Reported by: Attorney General James M. Ogden (outside investigators); National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (advocates); The Associated Negro Press (reporters); Prof. Jim Madison, historian.