Michael Murrell
Michael Murrell, a Black man, was held in the Augusta, Georgia jail in August 1874 after a fatal shooting of a local railroad agent. On the night of August 15, several hundred armed men took him from the jail, held what one newspaper called a mock trial before a self-appointed jury, and early on Sunday, August 16, shot him dead on the parade ground. His brother Gabriel was taken back to jail after the same proceeding. Newspaper accounts repeat the accusation against Michael Murrell as fact, and that accusation is not tested here.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A crowd of several hundred armed men took Michael Murrell from the Augusta jail, held a mock trial and shot him on the parade ground, according to a wire account reprinted by the Middletown Transcript.
Reported by: Middletown Transcript, reprinting a wire account (reporters).