Died in custody
Dirk Coffman
Dirk Coffman, a Black man, was held in the custody of deputies in Mayesville, Kentucky, in December 1899, after being brought from Covington. According to a special dispatch from Mayesville printed in The Columbia Herald on December 8, 1899, a mob of more than ten thousand people took him from the deputies. The paper reports that the mob tied him to a stake, set him on fire, and that he died. The dispatch said there was much indignation locally over the cruelty.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody