Dave Cotton
Dave Cotton was one of three Black men held in the Rosebud jail in Texas in May 1897. Guards refused a mob's demand for the prisoners at the jail, and officers then tried to move the men to another place. Masked men overtook the officers, took the three men, and hanged them from a small tree a few miles east of town, with Cotton among them. Newspaper accounts gave different sizes for the mob, about 100 in one and about 1,000 in another. The sheriff said nothing had yet been learned about who made up the mob, and an inquest was opened.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob of about 100 masked men took Dave Cotton from officers at the Rosebud jail and hanged him from a small tree east of town, after guards refused the mob's demand for the prisoners; the sheriff said nothing had yet been learned about who made up the mob and an inquest was opened.
Reported by: Rosebud sheriff's office (the agency that held them); newspaper report.