Dardin
Darden was held in the jail at Warrenton, Georgia, in March 1869. According to an Atlanta dispatch, a band of about a hundred disguised men, described as Klan members, demanded the jail keys, and the sheriff refused them, feared for his safety and left. One account says the men broke open the jail doors, set a fire at the door to smoke him out and killed him in front of his wife and children, while another says they took him some distance from town and shot him there. Reports place his death on March 12 or 13, 1869.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A dispatch reprinted in The Evening Argus says a Klan band broke into the Warrenton jail, set a fire to smoke Darden out and killed him, while the sheriff refused to hand over the keys and left; an Augusta dispatch says disguised men took him from the jail and shot him.
Reported by: Atlanta (Ga.) special dispatch as reprinted in The Evening Argus (reporters); dispatch datelined Augusta, Ga., March 13 (reporters); Warrenton article on the death of Dr. O. W. Darden (reporters).