Frank Foukal
Frank Foukal was a farmer from the Silver Hill area near Bay Minette, Alabama, and a husband and father of two, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. Early on June 22, 1919, a masked group of about ten to twelve men entered the Baldwin County jail, where he was being held, overpowered Sheriff Otis B. Richardson and took the keys, then shot Foukal in his cell as he slept, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. The Birmingham Age-Herald, citing state officials, reported that a former deputy sheriff is alleged to have obtained the cell keys, and that the mob was reportedly guided by someone familiar with the jail. Another account says the sheriff was nearly smothered and had to be revived by a physician after the men left. Officials reported arrests and confessions from more than a dozen men while the investigation continued.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A small mob overpowered the sheriff, took the keys and shot Frank Foukal as he slept in the Baldwin County jail at Bay Minette, Alabama, in June 1919, and state officers and the Associated Press reported the killing.
Reported by: state officers, as reported by the Associated Press (outside investigators); Associated Press (reporters).