Leander Shaw
Leander Shaw, a Black man, was held in the Pensacola jail in Florida on July 29, 1908, when a mob of about a thousand people tried to force their way into the building. Newspaper accounts said Sheriff Van Pelt and his deputies fought the crowd, and the sheriff, as quoted in one report, said he had pleaded with the mob and tried to protect Shaw. The mob got into the jail, took Shaw from his cell, and hanged him from an electric light pole in the public square. Accounts give different numbers of men killed and wounded in the fighting, and they disagree on whether the sheriff was overpowered or gave up the keys.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob stormed the Pensacola jail, took Leander Shaw from his cell and hanged him from an electric light pole, then shot his body many times; the sheriff said he had pleaded with the mob and tried to protect Shaw.
Reported by: Sheriff Van Pelt (the agency that held him); newspaper accounts.