Johnson
Orfutt Johnson, a Black man, was being held as a witness in the Ouachita Parish jail in Monroe, Louisiana. According to dispatches reported by the New Orleans Republican, an armed group of about fifteen or twenty men broke open the jail on the night of March 30, 1870, took him and killed him, then freed another prisoner and left. A Picayune dispatch reprinted in the Evening Telegraph said Sheriff Wisner was also killed defending the jail, and that the killing may have been meant to remove a person who could testify against the group. The accounts differ on details of the attack.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. Dispatches from Monroe reported by the New Orleans Republican, citing Governor Warmoth's dispatch and a message from Hon. O. H. Brewster, say an armed mob broke into the Ouachita Parish jail and killed Johnson, and a New Orleans Picayune dispatch says the killing may have been meant to silence a possible witness.
Reported by: Governor Warmoth's dispatch, as reported by the New Orleans Republican; Hon. O. H. Brewster's message, as reported by the New Orleans Republican; New Orleans Picayune dispatch from Monroe, as reprinted (reporters).