Died in jail or a lockup
John Varner
John Varner was held in the Moss Point jail. According to a Pascagoula newspaper, reprinted in the Memphis Daily Appeal in December 1874, a crowd of white and Black residents took the keys from the jailer's house. The crowd then opened the jail and cells, took Varner, and hanged him from a live oak tree near the railroad. He was the first of three men held there to be hanged.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A Pascagoula newspaper, as reprinted in the Memphis Daily Appeal, says a crowd took John Varner from the Moss Point jail and hanged him from a live oak tree.
Reported by: Pascagoula newspaper, as reprinted in the Memphis Daily Appeal (reporters).