Clifford Gordon
Clifford Gordon was one of five men held in the Ripley County jail at Versailles, Indiana, in September 1897. A mob broke in, took the five men from the jail and hanged them from an elm tree near the public square, and one account says the jailer first refused to give up the keys before they were taken by force. The coroner's verdict named an unknown mob as responsible, and Governor Mount ordered the sheriff to pursue those involved. Accounts differ on the date of death, given as September 9, 14 or 15, and on the method, with some reports saying his skull was crushed with a stool and others that he was shot.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A masked mob took the five men, including Clifford Gordon, from the Versailles, Indiana jail and hanged them, and the coroner's verdict was death at the hands of an unknown mob.
Reported by: the county coroner; The Hartford Herald, reprinting a Versailles, Ind. dispatch (reporters); Osgood correspondent news report (reporters).