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Died in jail or a lockup

Nease

55 years old · died August 6, 1906 · Rowan County Detention Center, Rowan County, North Carolina

Nease Gillespie was the father of John Gillespie, who was also taken from the Rowan County jail that night, according to a 2018 WBTV report. On the night of August 6, 1906, a mob of roughly 2,000 to 3,000 people broke into the jail in Salisbury, North Carolina, overpowered the officers, and took him and two other men from their cells. Contemporary newspapers reported that the men were hanged from a tree near Henderson's ball grounds and that their bodies were then shot, while the local militia had only blank cartridges and the sheriff and other officials pleaded with the crowd without stopping it; one account says the jailer was the last to give way. A 2018 Salisbury city proclamation describes the killings as a lynching that the city government failed to prevent. One 1906 report says he maintained his innocence to the end.

Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. Newspaper accounts from 1906 and a 2018 Salisbury City Council proclamation and resolution describe a crowd that got past the jail's guards, took him and two other men from the Rowan County jail, and hanged them, with bodies shot afterward.

Reported by: Carolina Watchman (reporters); The Caucasian (reporters); The Monroe Journal (reporters); Associated Press (reporters); Charlotte news dispatch reprinted in The New Haven Union (reporters); Salisbury special dispatch reprinted in the Fort Mill Times (reporters); Governor Glenn of North Carolina; Salisbury City Council proclamation and resolution; Terry Holt, local historian (advocates); Actions in Faith & Justice Remembrance Project and EJI marker (advocates); Claude A. Clegg III, Troubled Ground (2010).

Sources (50)

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Questions, a correction, or a death I’ve missed? Email me at orion.j.taylor@gmail.com.