James West
James West was held in the Las Vegas, New Mexico, jail in February 1880. According to a Sacramento Daily Record-Union dispatch, about seventy-five armed men broke into the jailer's room, forced the jailer to give up the keys, and took West from his cell. The same dispatch says they hanged him from the beams of a windmill pump in the central plaza and met no resistance. The Chicago Tribune dates his death to February 7, 1880.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took James West from the Las Vegas, New Mexico jail and hanged him, according to news accounts of the 1879-1880 lynchings; the accounts do not describe how the jail's officers responded.
Reported by: Chicago Tribune special dispatch from Las Vegas, New Mexico (reporters); Chicago Inter-Ocean, quoting F. C. Armstrong (reporters); The Burrillville Gazette (1880 news summary) (reporters); Las Vegas Daily Gazette (1885 historical account) (reporters).
Sources (13)
- The Cheyenne Daily Leader, June 8, 1879, page 1
- 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
- The Kenosha Telegraph, February 12, 1880, page 6
- 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
- The Abbeville Press And Banner, February 25, 1880, page 4
- Las Vegas Daily Gazette, December 29, 1885, page 4
- The Anaconda Standard, June 1, 1899, page 10