Lorenzo Saladino
Lorenzo Saladino was held in the new jail in Hahnville, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, in August 1896. Sheriff Lewis Ory said he had hidden Saladino in the woods to keep him safe. The following night a mob broke down the jail doors with axes, dragged Saladino from his cell and hanged him, along with two other men, from a shed near the courthouse. A historian says the men were innocent of the killing that set off the mob, and later documentation suggests Saladino was not responsible for it.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed). A Times-Picayune account says a mob broke into the new Hahnville jail, took Saladino from his cell and hanged him, and a historian says he was innocent of the killing that prompted the mob.
Reported by: Times Picayune (reporters); a historian.