Barrett Edwards
Barrett Edwards, a Black man, was held in the Union jail in Union, South Carolina, in February 1871. According to the Unionville Times, a group of masked, mounted men took him from the jail at night, and his body was found early the next morning tied to a small tree and shot with rifle balls. The Anderson Intelligencer reported that the deputy sheriff and jailor were forced to give up the keys, while trial testimony said the jailer refused to hand them over. Sheriff Dunn, as reported in The Charleston Daily News, said the prisoners were shot by a mob, and the accounts differ on the date of his death.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A masked mob took Barrett Edwards from the Union jail, South Carolina, in February 1871 and shot him, as the Unionville Times and Yorkville Enquirer reported; Sheriff Dunn's account, as reported in the Charleston Daily News, places him among six men shot at the hanging ground.
Reported by: Sheriff Dunn of Union (the agency that held him); Unionville Times, as reprinted in the Yorkville Enquirer (reporters); Unionville Times, as reprinted in The Sumter Watchman (reporters); The Charleston Daily News (reporters).
Sources (13)
- Pawtucket Gazette And Chronicle, January 13, 1871, page 2
- New Orleans Republican, February 15, 1871, page 1
- The Charleston Daily News, February 15, 1871, page 1
- Yorkville Enquirer, February 16, 1871, page 3
- The Anderson Intelligencer, February 16, 1871, page 2
- Yorkville Enquirer, February 16, 1871, page 2
- The Daily State Journal, February 16, 1871, page 1
- The Charleston Daily News, February 20, 1871, page 1
- The Working Christian, February 21, 1871, page 2
- Yorkville Enquirer, February 23, 1871, page 2
- The Sumter Watchman, March 1, 1871, page 2
- Worcester Daily Spy, November 7, 1871, page 1
- The Charleston Daily News, April 23, 1872, page 1