Alonzo Tibbets
Alono Tibbets went to the sheriff at Morris asking for protection, saying neighbors were seeking his life, and the sheriff locked him in the jail. According to an eyewitness letter published in the Ottawa Free Trader, a crowd on a Saturday in early July 1867 demanded the keys, and when the sheriff was away and those in charge refused to hand them over, the crowd broke down the jail door with a sledge hammer. The letter says local citizens tried to stop the crowd, but it took Tibbets, drove him to a grove across the Illinois bridge and hanged him, and the writer says the crowd ignored pleas to cut the rope. The Raftsman's Journal gives a later date for the hanging and says the mayor and others protested it.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed). An eyewitness letter in the Ottawa Free Trader, citing a Chicago Times correspondent, says a mob broke into the Morris jail after the sheriff left and hanged Tibbets, and that the jailers had refused to hand over the keys; a second account gives the date as August 3, 1867, and says the sheriff committed him to jail for safety after citizens resolved to hang him.
Reported by: eyewitness letter in the Ottawa Free Trader, citing a Chicago Times correspondent (reporters).