Gene Marshall
Gene Marshall, a Black man, was one of three men held in the Shelby County jail in Shelbyville, Kentucky, when a mob of about fifty masked men broke into the building in the early hours of January 15, 1911. According to the Bourbon News, Deputy Jailer Ernest Hornback turned over the keys after the mob threatened to blow up the building with dynamite. Accounts differ on how he was killed: one says he was riddled with bullets, while others say he was hanged from a bridge near the jail. One dispatch reported that the mob apparently mistook him for another man, and a special grand jury was said to be investigating the lynching.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A masked mob of about fifty men broke into the Shelby County jail in Shelbyville, Kentucky, took Gene Marshall and hanged him, according to reporting; the jailer reportedly turned over the keys after the mob threatened to blow up the building.
Reported by: Associated Press (reporters); Ernest Hornback, Deputy Jailer, as reported in the newspaper (the agency that held him).