Died in jail or a lockup
Robert Smith
Robert Smith was held in the Roanoke jail in Virginia. According to the summary of the record, officers were moving him away from town on Franklin road early on September 21, 1893, when about twenty men intercepted them, took him, and hanged him from a hickory limb before shooting his body. A coroner's jury, under Coroner Gray, found he died at the hands of persons unknown, and a crowd later tried to burn the body.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched
Reported by: Coroner Gray and jury (medical examiner or coroner).