Died in jail or a lockup
Big Bill
Big Bill was taken from the jail at West Union, West Virginia, by a mob on the night of December 10, 1883, and hanged, according to a Wheeling dispatch published in The Semi-Weekly Miner. The dispatch says he had just been acquitted of murder. The jail held him at the time of the mob's action, and the mob took him from it.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A Wheeling, W. Va. news dispatch reports that a mob took him from the jail and hanged him.
Reported by: news dispatch (Wheeling, W. Va.) (reporters).