Nathan Willis
Nathan Willis, a Black man who lived near Town Creek in Brunswick County, North Carolina, was held in the custody of the sheriff in November 1897. Newspaper dispatches reported that on Thanksgiving night, November 25, a mob of local farmers took him from the sheriff, carried him into the woods, chained him between two pine trees and burned him to death. One dispatch said he had been lodged in the county jail before the mob came, while another did not name the place where he was held.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A Wilmington dispatch and a Richmond Dispatch report say a mob of local farmers took Nathan Willis from the sheriff, chained him between two pine trees and burned him to death.
Reported by: news dispatch datelined Wilmington, N.C. (reporters); Richmond Dispatch, reporting from Wilmington, N.C. (reporters).