Bill Williams
Bill Williams, a Black man, was held in the town prison at Hamburg, Mississippi, in October 1897, where he had been placed for safe keeping. A Vicksburg Herald dispatch, printed in the Austin Weekly Statesman, said that around nine o'clock on the night of October 10 a crowd of unknown men broke the door by force, took him from the prison, and was supposed to have lynched him. Other dispatches printed in the Scranton Tribune and the New York Journal and Advertiser on October 18 placed the mob's visit on October 16 and said the men broke open the jail at night and took him away. The accounts disagree on the date, and none says whether the jailer or any officer resisted the mob or handed over the keys.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A Vicksburg Herald special dispatch says a crowd of unknown men broke into the Hamburg town prison at night, took Bill Williams out, and he was supposed to have been lynched.
Reported by: Vicksburg Herald, from a special dispatch (reporters); news dispatch.