Porter
Nevlin Porter, a Black man, was held in the Oktibbeha County jail in Starkville, Mississippi, with another man, Johnson Spencer. About midnight on May 3, 1879, a group of masked men went to the sheriff's home, received the jail keys, confined the jailer in a cell, and took Porter and Spencer from the jail. A coroner's inquest jury found that Porter died at the hands of that group in the early morning of May 4, and newspaper dispatches of the time reported that the two men were hanged.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A coroner's inquest jury found Porter died at the hands of a group of about 121 masked men who took him from the Oktibbeha County jail after the jailer was confined in a cell.
Reported by: coroner's inquest jury, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi (medical examiner or coroner); Evening Ledger, citing a Starkville, Miss. special dispatch (reporters).