Simon Cooper
Simon Cooper, a Black man, was captured by a sheriff's posse near Sumter, South Carolina, on January 8, 1897, and was being taken toward town in a wagon with officers when a crowd of about one hundred men gathered. According to The Indianapolis Journal, a deputy sheriff and two others resisted but were overpowered, and a mob hanged Cooper from a tree limb. The Chanute Times and the Barbour County Index give the same account of the seizure, though they differ on how many bullets struck the body, reporting more than 150 in one and more than 130 in another. A coroner's jury found that he came to his death at the hands of a mob whose members were unknown.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took Simon Cooper from the sheriff's posse taking him to Sumter, hanged him from a tree and shot his body more than 130 times, and a deputy and two others who resisted were overpowered.
Reported by: coroner's jury (medical examiner or coroner); news reports.