Nathan Bergess
Nathan Bergess was held in the jail at Lebanon, Virginia, on October 29, 1892, when a mob of about forty or fifty masked men entered the town and overpowered the jailer, forcing him to hand over the key to the cell. The men took Bergess and Sherman Laucus, handcuffed together, from the jail and hanged them from an oak tree beside the public road about half a mile west of town, then fired bullets into their bodies before leaving. A coroner's inquest jury failed to agree on a verdict.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob of masked men took Nathan Bergess from the Lebanon, Virginia jail after overpowering the jailer, who handed over the cell key, and hanged him from an oak tree beside the public road.
Reported by: news reports.