James West
James West was held in the jail at Las Vegas, New Mexico. A Chicago Tribune dispatch reported that on the night of February 7, 1880, a mob took him from the jail and killed him by lynch law. A Sacramento Daily Record-Union dispatch said about seventy-five armed men broke into the jailer's room, that the jailer gave up the keys, and that they took West from his cell. That dispatch said the men hanged him from the beams of a windmill pump in the central plaza. Other reports of the same events describe three men taken from the jail and lynched a few days after a deadly fight.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A special dispatch and several later newspaper accounts say a mob took James West from the Las Vegas, New Mexico jail and hanged him; the accounts give no detail on how jail staff responded.
Reported by: Las Vegas, N. M. special dispatch as reported in the paper (reporters); Chicago Tribune special dispatch from Las Vegas, New Mexico (reporters); F. C. Armstrong, recounting events in Las Vegas, as printed in the Chicago Inter-Ocean (witnesses); Las Vegas Daily Gazette (1885 historical account) (reporters); The Burrillville Gazette (1880 news summary) (reporters).
Sources (10)
- The Weekly Arizona Miner, June 13, 1879, page 2
- Sacramento Daily Record-Union, February 10, 1880, page 2
- Chicago Daily Tribune, February 10, 1880, page 4
- Gloucester County Democrat, February 12, 1880, page 4
- The Burrillville Gazette, February 12, 1880, page 4
- Brenham Weekly Banner, February 13, 1880, page 2
- The Morris County Chronicle, February 13, 1880, page 4
- The Arizona Sentinel, February 21, 1880, page 3
- Las Vegas Daily Gazette, December 29, 1885, page 4
- The Anaconda Standard, June 1, 1899, page 10