Dr. Crawford
Dr. Crawford was held at the county jail at Berkeley Springs, Morgan County, West Virginia, when a mob broke in during the early morning of August 24, 1876. According to the Daily Dispatch, the masked men demanded keys, and a guard said none were kept there; they broke down the door of his room with a sledge, pulled him from bed without time to dress, and took him away. A Cumberland, Md. dispatch put the crowd at forty or fifty men and the hanging at about two in the morning, while the Daily Dispatch gave twenty-five to forty men and shortly after 1 a.m., and both say his body was found hanging from a tree about three quarters of a mile from town. The Daily Dispatch reported that no pursuit of the men was attempted until daylight.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A Cumberland, Md. dispatch says a mob of forty or fifty men took Dr. Crawford from the Berkeley Springs jail and hanged him, and a newspaper account says masked men broke down his door with a sledge, pulled him from bed, and that a guard said no keys were there.
Reported by: Cumberland, Md. dispatch (reporters); newspaper account.