Bob Harris
Bob Harris, a Black man, was held in the Watkinsville jail in Georgia in June 1905. Newspaper accounts say a masked mob took him and other prisoners from the jail in the early morning, tied them to fence posts about 100 yards away, and shot them. The accounts give the date as June 28 or 29 and the number of men taken as seven to nine. They differ on how the mob got in: one says the mob demanded the keys at gunpoint, another says the jailer gave in and led them to the cells, and a third says the town marshal was seized and forced to give up the key. Governor Joseph M. Terrell said the state would investigate the killings.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed). The Birmingham Age-Herald and the Associated Press say a masked mob shot him after taking him from the Watkinsville jail, while another newspaper account says the mob hanged him.
Reported by: Birmingham Age-Herald (reporters); Governor Joseph M. Terrell; Associated Press (reporters); newspaper account describing a hanging at a prepared place; newspaper account describing the town marshal and jail key.