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Died in jail or a lockup

Frank Difata

died July 20, 1899 · Madison Parish Jail, Madison Parish, Louisiana

Frank Defatta was one of several Italian men held in the jail at Tallulah, Louisiana, in July 1899, and several of the men were said to have families in Europe. According to news accounts, a crowd overpowered the jailer and deputies, took the keys, went into the jail and took him out, and hanged him from an oak tree in the jail yard. The Topeka State Journal reported that citizens had pleaded for the men's lives, and a grand jury could not identify any member of the mob. An Italian embassy report, relayed to the State Department, says he took no part in the earlier violence and did not know of it until officers came to arrest him, a claim the report attributes to Italian authorities.

Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched

Reported by: Italian embassy report by Marquis Romano, as relayed to the state department; Topeka State Journal, reporting from Tallulah, La. (reporters).

Sources (32)

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