Died in jail or a lockup
Ben Williams
Ben Williams was held in the Cabell County jail at Barboursville, West Virginia, in January 1876. According to a Baltimore American correspondent, about one hundred unmasked men gathered at the jail after a meeting at the courthouse and voted on where to hang him. The jailer was compelled to bring him out, and the mob hanged him from a tree within thirty feet of the jail. The sheriff later took charge of the body.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A Baltimore American correspondent reported that a mob of about one hundred men took Ben Williams from the Cabell County jail and hanged him from a tree near the jail.
Reported by: Baltimore American correspondent (reporters).