Sam Phillips
Sam Phillips was a Black man held at the Lake City jail in Columbia County, Florida. Early on Sunday, May 21, 1911, more than a dozen men arrived by automobile posing as officers and showed a forged telegram to the sheriff's 16-year-old son, who was in charge while the sheriff was away, and the son handed the prisoners over. The men drove Sam Phillips and five others about a mile outside town, made them stand together and shot them, and residents found the bodies at daybreak after the attackers had left. Accounts differ on whether the men were tied to trees before being shot.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob of more than a dozen men posing as officers took him from the Lake City jail after the sheriff's 16-year-old son released the prisoners on a forged telegram, and shot him with rifles and pistols about a mile outside town.
Reported by: Lake City dispatch in the Norwich Bulletin (reporters); Mountain Home Maverick report (reporters); news dispatch from Lake City, Fla., dated May 23, 1911 (reporters); Morning Journal special leased wire report (reporters); The County Record (reporters); The Bamberg Herald (reporters); Washington Evening Star report reprinted in the Omaha Daily Bee (reporters).
Sources (37)
- The Birmingham Age-Herald, May 22, 1911, page 1
- The Montgomery Advertiser, May 22, 1911, page 1
- The Bridgeport Evening Farmer, May 22, 1911, page 4
- Norwich Bulletin, May 22, 1911, page 1
- The Richmond Palladium And Sun-Telegram, May 22, 1911, page 2
- The Topeka State Journal, May 22, 1911, page 8
- Daily Kennebec Journal, May 22, 1911, page 10
- The Daily Missoulian, May 22, 1911, page 1
- Omaha Daily Bee, May 22, 1911, page 1
- Perth Amboy Evening News, May 22, 1911, page 5
- Albuquerque Morning Journal, May 22, 1911, page 1
- The Sun, May 22, 1911, page 1
- The Salt Lake Tribune, May 22, 1911, page 1
- The Barre Daily Times, May 22, 1911, page 3
- The Bennington Evening Banner, May 22, 1911, page 1
- Yorkville Enquirer, May 23, 1911, page 3
- The Daily Ardmoreite, May 23, 1911, page 6
- The Sun, May 23, 1911, page 4
- The Madison Daily Leader, May 23, 1911, page 4
- Keowee Courier, May 24, 1911, page 1
- The Bamberg Herald, May 25, 1911, page 4
- The County Record, May 25, 1911, page 4
- Mountain Home Maverick, May 25, 1911, page 2
- American Falls Press, May 25, 1911, page 2
- Springfield Weekly Republican, May 25, 1911, page 10
- Jamestown Weekly Alert, May 25, 1911, page 6
- The Palatka News And Advertiser, May 26, 1911, page 4
- Montpelier Examiner, May 26, 1911, page 2
- The Wibaux Pioneer, May 26, 1911, page 6
- The Falls City Tribune, May 26, 1911, page 6
- Golden Valley Chronicle, May 26, 1911, page 3
- The Mingo Republican, May 26, 1911, page 3
- The Savannah Tribune, May 27, 1911, page 4
- Bonners Ferry Herald, May 27, 1911, page 3
- Elk City Mining News, June 1, 1911, page 6
- The Dillon Herald, June 15, 1911, page 6
- The Alaska Citizen, June 26, 1911, page 6