Bragg Williams
Bragg Williams, a Black man, was held in the Hill County jail in Hillsboro, Texas. On January 20, 1919, a mob broke the jail door with a telephone pole, seized him from the guards, and burned him in the public square in front of several hundred people, according to contemporary newspaper accounts. County officers were reported to have tried to control the crowd without success, and a Hill County grand jury later returned no indictments against members of the mob. A historical marker, applied for by his nieces, records that the sheriff had said he would not stop a lynching, though Texas Rangers had been sent to protect him, and his great nephew, Dr. David L. Brown, spoke at its dedication about his mother Emma, who lived to be over 100 years old.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob broke into the Hill County jail in Hillsboro, Texas, seized Bragg Williams from the guards and burned him in the public square; the sheriff reportedly said he would not stop a lynching, and no one in the mob was punished.
Reported by: Austin American, reprinted in The Dallas Express (reporters); Dallas News dispatch, reprinted in the Dallas Express (reporters); Hill County Historical Commission (Texas Historical Marker).