Preston Porter
Preston Porter was a Black man who, according to newspaper accounts, had come to Colorado with his father and brother to find railroad work near Limon. On November 16, 1900, Sheriff Freeman and his deputies were taking him by train toward the county jail at Hugo in Lincoln County when about sixteen members of a vigilance committee boarded the train and demanded him. The sheriff protested in the name of the law and asked to take him to jail, but his protests were disregarded, and the group took Porter to a site near Lake Station and burned him at a stake. Accounts say a crowd of several hundred watched, that he read the Bible and knelt in prayer before being bound, and that he died about twenty minutes after the fire was lit. According to the Semi-Weekly Messenger, the sheriff was strongly opposed to the lynching.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A crowd of vigilance committee men took Preston Porter from Sheriff Freeman's custody on a train near Limon, Colorado, and burned him at a stake, with the sheriff protesting the seizure.
Reported by: Lincoln County Sheriff Freeman and his deputies (the agency that held him); Semi-Weekly Messenger (reporters); Denver Times (reporters); Los Angeles Herald (reporters); Colorado Lynching Memorial Project (advocates); Custer Weekly Chronicle (reporters); county coroner.
Sources (13)
- Preston 'John' Porter Jr
- November 16, 1900
- The Age-Herald, November 17, 1900, page 1
- The Semi-Weekly Messenger, November 20, 1900, page 5
- Twice-A-Week Plain Dealer, November 20, 1900, page 4
- Missouri Valley Times, November 22, 1900, page 6
- The Pioneer Press, November 22, 1900, page 7
- Reporter And Farmer, November 22, 1900, page 7
- Turner County Herald, November 22, 1900, page 3
- The Pioneer Express, November 23, 1900, page 2
- Custer Weekly Chronicle, November 24, 1900, page 2
- The Kimball Graphic, November 24, 1900, page 2
- Springfield Weekly Republican, July 17, 1903, page 2