Sidney Williams
Sidney Williams, a Black man, was held in the Telfair County jail in McRae, Georgia, in November 1912. According to the Atlanta Georgian, a mob broke into the jail on the night of November 29-30, overpowered the sheriff and deputies, found him locked in a vault, and took him a short distance from town, where he was hanged. The Associated Press, as printed in the Lakeland Evening Telegram, reported that Sheriff Wilcox had placed him in the vault of the county clerk's office to keep him from the mob, that this effort failed, and that he was shot to death at the courthouse. The two accounts differ on where he was held, how he was killed, and whether the sheriff resisted the mob.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed). The Associated Press reported that a mob shot him to death at the McRae courthouse, while another account says a mob took him from the jail and hanged him.
Reported by: Associated Press (reporters); contemporary newspaper account.