Leo Walker
Leo Walker, a 19-year-old Black man, was held in the Memphis jail after his arrest on Friday, July 21, 1893. On Saturday night, The Evening Bulletin reports, a mob of about 5,000 gathered at the jail and about 100 men broke through the gates and seized him, knocking Sheriff McLendon senseless while deputies guarding the jail were overpowered. The mob hanged Walker from a telegraph pole two blocks away and, the article says, then burned his body in the street. A later Hickman Courier account says a Shelby County grand jury indicted Sheriff McLendon for failing to protect him and indicted several men described as mob leaders for murder.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (neglect alleged). The Evening Bulletin reports that a mob of about 5,000 broke the jail gates, knocked Sheriff McLendon senseless and hanged Walker from a telegraph pole, and a Shelby County grand jury indicted the sheriff for failing to protect him.
Reported by: The Evening Bulletin (reporters); Shelby County grand jury (court).