Jack Roarke
Jack Roarke was held in the county jail in Mariposa, California, in December 1854. A crowd of Mariposa citizens broke him out of the jail, took him from the town, and hanged him from a tree just outside it, according to an agency report printed in the Daily American Organ. That account says the sheriff and his party tried to keep him in legal custody, while the Evening Star reports that he was forcibly taken from the sheriff and hanged in public, with no account of the sheriff's response. The Organ's report says Roarke denied rumors that he had killed other men and said he regretted not being given a trial by law before he died.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. An agent of Adams & Co., as printed in the Daily American Organ, reports a crowd of Mariposa citizens took Roarke from the county jail and hanged him outside town, while the sheriff and his party tried to keep him in legal custody.
Reported by: agent of Adams & Co. report, as printed in the Daily American Organ (reporters).