James Copeland
James Copeland, also called Jim, was a Black man held in the Greene County jail in Springfield, Missouri, and one report describes him as under twenty-one. On the night of April 14, 1906, a mob of thousands broke into the jail, and reports say the sheriff and deputies were overpowered and that the mob obtained the jail key. Sheriff Horner and his deputies tried to hold the mob back before they were driven from the building. The mob took Copeland and another man, Horace Duncan, from the jail, hanged them in the public square, and set a fire beneath them. One account says local authorities later said Copeland was innocent.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took James Copeland from the Greene County jail in Springfield, Missouri, and hanged him in the public square.
Reported by: news reports.