Lorenzo Salardino
Lorenzo Salardino was one of three Italian men held in the jail at Hahnville, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. On Saturday, August 8, 1896, a mob of about fifty armed people broke into the jail after midnight, took the three men to a nearby stable and hanged them, according to the Weekly Herald. The paper reported that the sheriff had earlier had trouble holding back a crowd before moving the men to Hahnville, and that the crowd gave the men two minutes to pray before the hanging. The State Department later paid the Italian government $6,000 in indemnity for the deaths of the three men.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob of about fifty armed people broke into the Hahnville jail in St. Charles Parish, took Lorenzo Salardino and two other Italian men to a stable, and hanged them, according to accounts from 1896; one account says the guard was overpowered.
Reported by: Hahnville jail guard (the agency that held him); U.S. State Department; news reports.