Died in custody
Jefferson Ellis
Jefferson Ellis, a Black man, was held by a constable in Memphis, Tennessee. According to a dispatch published in the Butler Weekly Times on October 24, 1895, a mob took him from the constable and killed him in the early hours of October 16, 1895. The dispatch says he was hanged from a telegraph pole. The newspaper account also reports that his body was left on display with a placard.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took Jefferson Ellis from a constable and hanged him from a telegraph pole in Memphis, according to a newspaper dispatch in the Butler Weekly Times.
Reported by: Butler Weekly Times (reporters).