John Hall, Jr.
John Hall Jr. was held in the Vermillion County jail in Danville, Illinois, in May 1895. A Danville dispatch carried by the San Antonio Daily Light said a mob broke into the jail shortly after midnight on May 25, battered through the outer and inner doors after the sheriff refused them entry and ordered them to disperse, and took Hall from the building. The crowd hanged him from a bridge, which one report places over the Vermillion River and another at Gilbert Street, and a circuit judge's plea for the law to take its course did not stop them. The reports differ on the date, giving May 25 and May 26. The Morning News said Sheriff Thompson, unable to control the crowd, asked the governor for militia.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob broke into the Vermillion County jail at Danville, took John Hall Jr. from his cell and hanged him, according to news accounts.
Reported by: The Pantagraph (reporters).