Dawson
Dawson was held in the jail at Charleston, West Virginia, in January 1876, along with another man, Estep. On the evening of January 25, a crowd that one paper put at about 200 armed men arrived by steamer, took the two men from the jail and marched them toward the woods. The Valley Virginian gave the crowd as about 400 and reported that the men were hanged on the spot where another man had been killed. The papers disagree on the date, the place and the number of men taken, and the Cincinnati Gazette said only that they would probably be found hanging from a tree the next morning. None of the accounts say whether jail staff resisted the crowd or handed the men over, and no source confirms what happened to Dawson afterward.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took Dawson from the Charleston jail and, according to the Cincinnati Gazette's Charleston correspondent, probably hanged him; a later newspaper account reports that he was hanged.
Reported by: Cincinnati Gazette, Charleston correspondent (reporters); news dispatch; newspaper account.
Sources (11)
- Memphis Daily Appeal, January 26, 1876, page 1
- The Daily Free Press, January 26, 1876, page 2
- The Dallas Daily Herald, January 27, 1876, page 1
- New Orleans Republican, January 27, 1876, page 8
- The New Orleans Democrat, January 27, 1876, page 1
- The Valley Virginian, January 27, 1876, page 2
- The New York Herald, January 27, 1876, page 5
- The Weston Democrat, January 31, 1876, page 3
- Knoxville Journal, February 3, 1876, page 2
- Bradford Opinion, February 5, 1876, page 4
- Port Royal Standard And Commercial, February 24, 1876, page 4