Ell Persons
Ell Persons, a Black man, was being taken by train from Nashville to Memphis, Tennessee, where he had been held for safe keeping, when a mob seized him from sheriff's deputies at Potts Camp, Mississippi. The mob brought him back to the Memphis area, where, before a crowd of several thousand, he was chained to a pyre and burned to death on May 22, 1917. One account describes the crowd as organized and quiet, with men from Memphis, Holly Springs and nearby towns taking part. A coroner's jury returned a verdict of death from causes unknown, and a grand jury investigation of the lynching was to begin.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took Ell Persons from sheriff's deputies at Potts Camp, Mississippi, and burned him to death before a crowd near Memphis, according to news reports.
Reported by: Memphis newspaper reports (reporters).