Compton
Compton was held in the old log jail in Helena, Montana, when a vigilante crowd gathered outside on April 30, 1870, and took him from the building. According to a 1928 newspaper account, the crowd held a mock trial in the courthouse square and hanged him, which the paper called the last vigilante execution in Last Chance Gulch. A second 1928 account says he was one of two men taken from the jail, identified by a recovering victim in front of a line of men, and hanged after a crowd trial. Neither account describes how the mob got past the jail's guards.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A 1928 newspaper account says vigilantes took Compton from the old log jail in Helena and hanged him after a mock trial in the courthouse square.
Reported by: 1928 newspaper account of the 1870 vigilante hanging (reporters).