Robert Berrior
Robert Berrier, a man held in the jail at Lexington, North Carolina, died in October 1889. According to an Associated Press dispatch, a masked mob broke into the jail after the jailer refused to surrender the keys, battered down the door, and took him to an oak tree on the outskirts of town, where he was killed. A witness quoted in a Columbia, South Carolina, report said that he spoke of hoping to meet his wife and baby in heaven, and that a passing drummer knelt and prayed with him for more than three hours before he was hanged near midnight. The reports spell his name Berrior in one and Berrier in the other, and only the Associated Press account says the jailer refused to surrender the keys.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A masked mob broke down the door of the Lexington, North Carolina jail after the jailer refused to give up the keys, took Robert Berrior and lynched him from an oak tree on the edge of town, according to an Associated Press dispatch.
Reported by: Associated Press dispatch (reporters).