J. R. Dorsey
J. R. Dorsey was about seventy years old and served as postmaster at Alpine, Georgia, according to the Narragansett Herald. He was held in the jail at Centre, Alabama. According to the National Republican, about forty masked men came to the jail and demanded the keys, and the jailer handed them over under threat of pistols. The men took Dorsey from the jail and hanged him from a tree about a quarter of a mile away. The reports give different dates: Friday night, October 17, 1884, in the Daily Enterprise; Monday night, October 20, in the People and Patriot; and the night before the National Republican's October 22 report.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took Dorsey from the Centre jail and hanged him, and the jailer handed over the keys under threat of pistols, according to a National Republican dispatch from Rome, Ga.
Reported by: National Republican dispatch from Rome, Ga. (reporters).