Norris Bendy
Norris Bendy was held in the Clinton jail in Clinton, South Carolina, in July 1933. The NAACP, in a telegram to the state governor reported by The Savannah Tribune, said a mob, which it said included two Clinton police officers, took him from his cell and killed him on the outskirts of the city, and that eyewitnesses had identified members of the mob and their automobiles. The Washington Daily News quoted the police chief as saying he did not know how Bendy had been taken from the jail. An Associated Press account carried by the Columbia State said a Laurens County grand jury declined to indict five white men charged in the killing, and white residents of Clinton told a newspaper the mob meant only to whip him. Reports give the date of his death as July 4, 5, or 14, 1933.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed). A mob took Norris Bendy from the Clinton jail and beat him to death; the NAACP and eyewitnesses identified mob members, while white residents of Clinton said the mob meant only to whip him and he was killed when he fought back.
Reported by: NAACP (advocates); eyewitnesses; white residents of Clinton; Laurens County grand jury (court); Columbia State (reporters); International Labor Defense (advocates); police chief of Clinton (the agency that held him).