Sydney Randolph
Sydney Randolph, a Black man whose name appears in some accounts as Sidney, was held in the Rockville jail in Maryland. In the early hours of July 4, 1896, accounts say thirty or forty masked men came to the jail, and the jailer, confronted at revolver point, was forced to hand over his keys. The men unlocked Randolph's cell, took him out, and hanged him from a tree about two miles west of Rockville. Accounts say he made no statement before he died, and the leaders of the mob were never identified.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob of masked men forced the aged jailer at revolver point to give up the keys, took Sydney Randolph from the Rockville jail and hanged him near Rockville.
Reported by: Rockville jail, jailer (the agency that held him); news reports.