James Donegan
James Donegan was held at the jail at Santa Fe when, early on a Saturday morning in July 1880, a group of masked, armed men broke in and took him out. According to the jailer and deputy sheriff, who testified before the Coroner's Jury, they were forced to open the doors at pistol point and did not recognize any of the mob. The mob then hanged him from a beam in an alley close to the jail. The account of who the mob was and how they got in is the officers' own testimony and has not been independently confirmed.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. The jailer and deputy sheriff told the Coroner's Jury that a masked mob forced them to open the jail doors at pistol point and then hanged Donegan from a beam near the jail.
Reported by: Jailer and Deputy Sheriff of the Santa Fe jail (the agency that held him). The only account of how this person died comes from the agency that held him.