Augustus Smith
Augustus Smith was about 20 years old and had come to Johnston County to work on a farm. On November 18, 1881, he was hanged on the courthouse square in Smithfield, North Carolina, before a crowd the Goldsboro Messenger put at about 4,000, as reprinted in The Farmer and Mechanic. That morning he prayed, ate a hearty breakfast, asked friends to tell his mother he would meet her in Heaven, and urged young men in the crowd to stay home with their parents. The Messenger reported that he was strangled and that his neck was not broken. Friends from Harnett County had promised to bury him beside his father, but after the execution they did not take his body, and the sheriff disposed of it.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state
Reported by: Goldsboro Messenger, as reprinted in The Farmer and Mechanic (reporters).