Died in jail or a lockup
Erastus Brown
Erastus Brown, a Black man, was held in the jail at Union, Maine, after he was taken there to keep him from being lynched. Early on Saturday, July 10, 1897, a mob of men from the Villa Ridge neighborhood forcibly took him from the jail and hanged him from a tree. The Daily Public Ledger reported the killing as a mob lynching from custody, and the account describes the mob as having taken him by force.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched
Reported by: news reports.