George Wigfall
George Wigfall, a Black man, died on October 3, 1912, while held at the Wyoming state penitentiary in Rawlins. According to the Irish Standard, a mob gathered outside a Rawlins jail, and he was taken from there to the penitentiary. The paper reports that prisoners there overpowered the guards and a turnkey, took the keys to his cell, and threw him over a railing above the prison rotunda with a rope around his neck. The article says his neck was broken in the fall, and that the other prisoners made no attempt to escape afterward and were ordered back to their cells.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A 1912 newspaper account says prisoners at the Wyoming state penitentiary overpowered the guards and a turnkey, took the cell keys, and threw him over a railing with a rope around his neck, breaking his neck.
Reported by: 1912 newspaper account (reporters).