Howard Wash
Howard Wash, a 49-year-old Black farm hand, was held in the Jones County jail in Laurel, Mississippi, in October 1942. According to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation reported by Frank Coleman, he kissed his wife and baby goodbye that afternoon and gave the baby his last dollar. A mob of 50 to 100 men took him from the jail and hanged him from a bridge, and reports differ on whether it happened on October 15, 16 or 17. The sheriff said the mob brushed him and several deputies aside and took the cell keys from the jailer, and a federal grand jury indicted five men in January 1943, including a deputy sheriff-jailer charged with failing to secure the jail.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (neglect alleged). A federal grand jury charged a deputy sheriff-jailer with failing to secure the jail, and the sheriff said the mob brushed him and his deputies aside and took the cell keys from the jailer.
Reported by: Sheriff J. Press Reddock (the agency that held him); FBI special agent John L. Sullivan (outside investigators); U.S. Department of Justice investigation (outside investigators); Federal grand jury (court); Associated Press (reporters); Frank Coleman (reporters).