Howard
Howard, a Black man, was taken from the custody of a sheriff by a group of Black men on the way to jail near Vicksburg, Mississippi, in December 1883, according to a Vicksburg dispatch printed in the New Orleans report and the Savannah Morning News. The report says he was lynched, and it describes this as the first case on record of a Black man being lynched by Black men. A later account from Skipwith, Mississippi, says Howard was being taken to Greenville under guard by two Black men when a party of Black men stopped them near Steel's Bayou and forcibly took him. That account says nothing had been heard from him since, and that blood and his hat were found nearby, but it does not confirm that he died.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A Vicksburg dispatch reported that a group of Black men took Howard from a sheriff while he was being taken to jail near Vicksburg, Mississippi, and that he is believed to have been lynched; a second account says blood and his hat were found near Steel's Bayou after a party of Black men forcibly took him from two guards, though it does not confirm his death.
Reported by: Vicksburg special dispatch in the New Orleans report (reporters).