Died in jail or a lockup
Lewis Houston
Lewis Houston, a Black man, was held in the jail at Birmingham, Alabama, in November 1883. Newspaper accounts from the period say a mob of about 150 masked men overpowered the jailer, took him from the jail to a settlement on the edge of the city and hanged him from a pine tree. One paper reports that the jailer's keys were taken after a struggle, and another that the mayor was asked to call out military companies but no order was issued before the mob acted. Several accounts say he protested his innocence to the end, and that some people in the city doubted he was the right man.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched
Reported by: news reports.