Horace Duncan
Horace Duncan, a Black man, was held in the Greene County jail in Springfield, Missouri, in April 1906. On the night of April 14 or early April 15, a mob of about three thousand broke into the jail, took him from his cell and hanged him in the public square, then set a fire beneath him. Sheriff Horner and his deputies tried to hold the mob back but were overcome and driven from the building, and accounts differ on whether the jail key was obtained or the cells were forced. One report describes him as under twenty-one, while others give no age.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took Horace Duncan from the Greene County jail in Springfield, Missouri, and hanged him in the public square, after the sheriff and deputies were overcome.
Reported by: Greene County jail sheriff and deputies (as reported in press accounts) (the agency that held him); newspaper accounts of the 1906 Springfield lynching (reporters).