Deaths in Custody
Died in jail or a lockup

Ed Johnson

died March 19, 1906 · Hamilton County Jail, Hamilton County, Tennessee

Ed Johnson, a Black man, was held in the Chattanooga jail in Hamilton County, Tennessee, under a death sentence while the U.S. Supreme Court considered his appeal and granted a stay of execution. On the night of March 19, 1906, a mob of about seventy-five men reached the jail, and sources say they overpowered the sheriff and deputies and took him out. The men hanged him from a beam of the county bridge over the Tennessee River, the rope broke, and the mob then shot him. Sheriff John F. Shipp said he argued against the violence and was locked in a bathroom, while the Supreme Court later found him and others in contempt for failing to protect Johnson. Sources differ on whether Johnson died of strangulation before the shots, and reports say he maintained his innocence.

Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed; neglect alleged). A mob took Ed Johnson from the Chattanooga jail and hanged him; Sheriff Shipp says he argued with the crowd and was overpowered, while the Supreme Court found the sheriff and jailer failed to protect him, and Justice Peckham's dissent disagreed with the finding against the sheriff.

Reported by: Sheriff John F. Shipp (the agency that held him); United States Supreme Court (court); Savannah Tribune (reporters); Chattanooga news report (wire dispatch) (reporters); Associated Press report (reporters).

News reports (41)

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