Died in custody
Bob Sims
Bob Sims was in the custody of Choctaw County Sheriff Gavin, who was driving him by buggy with a small posse toward Butler, the county seat, in December 1891. A New Orleans dispatch printed in the Weekly Courier-Journal reports that a large group of men overpowered the officers and hanged Sims and two members of the Savage family from a tree beside the road. The account says Sims refused a blindfold, asked the men to feel his pulse to see whether he was frightened, and said he was going to heaven. A coroner's inquest was expected to return a verdict of killed by a party or parties unknown.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched
Reported by: newspaper account of a New Orleans special dispatch (reporters).