Roper, alias McGee

According to a Nashville dispatch reprinted in The Van Buren Press, a mob took Roper, also called McGehee, from the jail in Columbia, Tennessee, on the morning of November 27, 1877. The Silver State's report of the same events says the mob made several failed attempts to lynch him before taking him to a woman who identified him, then to the courthouse, where he was hanged from a third-story window in front of about 2,000 people. Neither account says whether jail officers resisted the mob or gave him up.

Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched

Reported by: The American, reprinting a Nashville report (reporters); The Silver State news dispatch (reporters).

Sources (2)

• The Silver State, November 28, 1877, page 2 The Silver State, November 28, 1877
• The Van Buren Press, December 4, 1877, page 2 The Van Buren Press, December 4, 1877