Died in jail or a lockup
John Wolfenbarger
John Wolfenbarger was held in the county jail at Rutledge, in Granger County, Tennessee, in April 1889. A Knoxville dispatch published in The Morning News said citizens, rather than officers, had been guarding the jail overnight, and that it was broken open before noon as a large crowd gathered in town. A report datelined Morristown said about six men took him from the jail and hanged him from a tree, and it said he maintained that he was innocent.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took John Wolfenbarger from the Rutledge jail and hanged him from a tree, according to a newspaper report.
Reported by: unnamed informant quoted in the newspaper report; Knoxville dispatch published in The Morning News (reporters).