Dewey Lake
Dewey Lake was a Black man and a son of Felix Lake; one account says four members of his family died together that night. A group of forty or fifty armed men took him and four others from the Worth County jail in Sylvester, Georgia, held the sheriff and jailer at gunpoint, and demanded the keys, then drove the five to Lee County, where they were hanged from a tree near Starkville, with many bullet holes in their bodies. Sheriff L. A. Potts said the men held him at gunpoint and took his keys, and a coroner's inquest jury returned a verdict of death by strangulation and gunshot wounds at the hands of unknown parties. Sources do not establish who the mob members were or what their motive was.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. Sheriff L. A. Potts said a group of about forty men held him and the jailer at gunpoint and took the keys before the men were hanged near Starkville.
Reported by: Sheriff L. A. Potts (the agency that held him); Coroner's inquest jury (medical examiner or coroner); Associated Press (reporters).
News reports (12)
- Americus Times-Recorder, January 21, 1916, page 1
- The Hattiesburg News, January 21, 1916, page 1
- Bryan Daily Eagle And Pilot, January 21, 1916, page 1
- The Waxahachie Daily Light, January 21, 1916, page 1
- Hickory Daily Record, January 21, 1916, page 1
- The Montgomery Advertiser, January 22, 1916, page 1
- The Montgomery Advertiser, January 22, 1916, page 2
- The Pensacola Journal, January 22, 1916, page 1
- The Richmond Virginian, January 22, 1916, page 3
- Highland Recorder, January 28, 1916, page 1
- Highland Recorder, January 28, 1916, page 2
- The Jeffersonian, April 20, 1916, page 10