Died in custody
Ben. Whitfield
Ben Whitfield was being transported from Raleigh toward Memphis when about forty masked horsemen took him from the sheriff's custody and hanged him from a tree, according to The Daily Phoenix. The sheriff who held him is the one who would have had to resist, give up custody or hand him over. Ben was taken from custody by a mob and killed in the way the paper describes. The article gives no account from officials of what happened at the moment he was taken.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched
Reported by: news reports.