Jeff Brawn
Jeff Brown, a Black man, was held in the Pensacola county jail in Escambia County, Florida. Before dawn on August 21, 1875, a crowd took him and another man from the jail and hanged them from trees near Seville Square. The jailer said about 100 men broke the door, though his testimony describes the key and lock as found in place, so the accounts differ on how the crowd got in. Police arrived after the hanging, exchanged shots with the group and cut the men down, and a coroner's jury recorded the death as a homicide by hanging.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed). A coroner's jury ruled he was hanged by a mob that took him from the Pensacola county jail, while the jailer said the crowd broke the door and his testimony describes the key and lock as found in place.
Reported by: coroner's jury (medical examiner or coroner); Pensacola county jailer (the agency that held him); newspaper report of the Pensacola events (reporters).