Died in jail or a lockup
John Boyer
John Boyer was one of four Black men held in the Russellville jail in Kentucky. The Daily Public Ledger reported that a mob took the four men from the jail at about 1 a.m. on August 1, 1908, and hanged them from a tree. The Hartford Herald reported that about 300 men arrived shortly before dawn, overpowered Jailer J. W. Butt, demanded the keys, and took the men out to be hanged on the Nashville pike; the men were later cut down and brought into the courthouse. The Herald reported little resistance from the jail staff, and the accounts differ on the time of the attack.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody