Allen Brooks
Allen Brooks, a Black man, was being held in Dallas, Texas, awaiting trial, and on March 3, 1910, he was in the courthouse when a mob of several thousand people broke in. Accounts say the mob overpowered the officers, found him in the jury room where the sheriff had hidden him, and threw him from a second-story window, where the fall broke his neck. Sources report that the mob then dragged his body through the streets to the Elks' Arch at Main and Akard streets and hanged it there, and that officers prevented the body from being burned and cut it down. Sheriff Ledbetter and his deputies said they were powerless to stop the mob, while other reports say the sheriff hid him in the jury room, and the accounts do not agree on how he was taken from custody.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob of about 5,000 took Allen Brooks from the Dallas County courthouse, threw him from a second-story window, and hanged his body from the Elks' arch; officers were overpowered and the sheriff said they were powerless to stop it.
Reported by: Sheriff Ledbetter and his deputies (the agency that held him); San Antonio Light and Gazette special dispatch (reporters); Associated Press dispatch (reporters).