Dave Shaw
Dave Shaw, a Black man, was being taken through the woods in Laurens County, South Carolina, under guard when fifteen or twenty armed people surrounded the group and took him away. Witnesses heard gunfire and his cries, and signs that he had been hanged from a tree were found at the scene. Solicitor Schumpert, in an official report to Gov. Tillman after examining the scene and interviewing fifteen witnesses, said Shaw had been brutally murdered. Early press accounts had suggested he had only been whipped, and that conflicts with the solicitor's findings.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. Solicitor Schumpert's official report to Gov. Tillman concluded, after examining the scene and fifteen witnesses, that Shaw was brutally murdered by hanging after a mob of fifteen or twenty armed people took him from his guard in the woods.
Reported by: Solicitor Schumpert, in an official report to Gov. Tillman.