Richard Washington
Richard Washington, a Black man, was one of three men held in the custody of the sheriff at McGhee, Arkansas, in September 1894. An Associated Press dispatch reported that a mob of about 300 men overpowered the officers taking the three men toward the jail at Arkansas City and hanged them from a telegraph pole near McGhee on September 22, 1894, and that the bodies were then fired on. The Morning News reported that the sheriff gave the men up and that they were hanged to a tree. The accounts differ on whether the sheriff resisted or handed the men over.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. Accounts report that a mob took Richard Washington and two other men from the sheriff at McGhee, Arkansas, and hanged them, with one account saying the sheriff gave the men up and another saying the mob overpowered the officers.
Reported by: Associated Press dispatch (reporters); 1894 news item (reporters).