Pink Willis
Pink Willis, a Black man, was held in the county jail at Poplarville, Mississippi, on January 10, 1909. According to the Laredo Weekly Times, several hundred men went to the jail, demanded the keys from Sheriff H. K. Rouse, and when he refused they overpowered him and broke down the doors. The mob took Willis from a second-floor cell, carried him to the edge of town and hanged him from a tree, and the Hattiesburg News and the Columbus Commercial both report that his body was then shot or torn with buckshot. The Hattiesburg News says Rouse was overpowered and that the lynching was widely deplored, though some people in town were reported to approve of the killing.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob of several hundred men took Pink Willis from the Poplarville, Mississippi jail, hanged him from a tree and shot his body, after overpowering Sheriff H. K. Rouse, who had refused to surrender the keys.
Reported by: news reports.