Died in jail or a lockup
Jess Hammett
Jess Hammett, a Black man, was held in the jail at Vivian, Louisiana, about twenty miles north of Shreveport. On the afternoon of August 26, 1916, according to a wire report carried by the Brownsville Herald, a mob took him from the jail and lynched him. The Daily Ardmoreite's wire report of August 27 gives the same account, and the Bryan Daily Eagle also reported the lynching from the jail. The sheriff's and jailer's conduct at the time is not described in these accounts.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched
Reported by: Associated Press (reporters); Daily Ardmoreite (reporters).