Richard Allen
Richard Allen was a Black man who had lived in Clarksville, Tennessee, and was being held in the Mayfield jail awaiting grand jury action when he died on February 23, 1898. According to the paper, a mob of about 300 people came to the jail around midnight and forced the jailer to surrender the keys under threat, then took Allen from his cell and hanged him from a tree near the courthouse yard. Allen had repeatedly said he was not the man being sought and begged for his life, and his body was to be sent to Clarksville. A coroner's jury found that he died at the hands of unknown persons.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob of about 300 people took Richard Allen from the Mayfield jail and hanged him, after the jailer surrendered the keys under threat.
Reported by: coroner's jury (medical examiner or coroner).