Jake McDowell
Jake McDowell, a Black man, was held at the Webster County jail in Dixon, Kentucky, awaiting trial. Early on May 31, 1908, a masked mob came to the jail, and according to The Bee the jailer, who slept in a guard house there, was confronted by men holding revolvers and gave up the keys. The men took McDowell from his cell and shot him dead on the Providence road a short distance away. Officers said the men scattered before they could be caught and that they had not learned the names of any of them. Other newspaper accounts differ on how the mob got in, with one saying the men fired shots to draw the jailer's attention before demanding that the cell be opened.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A news report says the jailer gave up the keys to a masked mob that took him from his cell, and the jailer and county officers say he was shot on the Providence road.
Reported by: Jailer and county officers, Webster County, Ky. (the agency that held him); Dixon, Ky. news dispatch (reporters).