Died in jail or a lockup
James H. Craft
James H. Croft, also printed as James H. Craft, was being held in the jail at Alamosa, Colorado, in July 1879. According to The Daily Dispatch, about 100 citizens took him from the jail at about 1 a.m. on Saturday, July 5, and hanged him from a cottonwood tree. A later account in American Citizen gives the time as midnight and says about one hundred citizens took him from the jail and hanged him from a cottonwood tree.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob of about 100 citizens took James H. Croft from the Alamosa jail and hanged him from a cottonwood tree; the accounts do not say whether jail staff resisted.
Reported by: newspaper account.