Mike White
Mike White was held in the Huntsville jail in Madison County, Alabama, and his wife was allowed to go in and say goodbye before he was taken out. On April 17, 1878, according to the Memphis Daily Appeal, citing its Huntsville correspondent, a crowd of several hundred men from the surrounding county came for him, and a masked mob hanged him. The paper reported that the jail sheriff could not get guards to serve and that officers offered only a simple protest. Before he died, White said he was innocent. A 1909 Birmingham Age-Herald account recalls the killing differently, saying a military company guarded the jail and the mob went in anyway.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched
Reported by: Memphis Daily Appeal, citing its Huntsville correspondent (reporters).