Sylvester Polk
Sylvester Polk was held in the Pike County jail at Murfreesboro, Arkansas, together with his brother Henry. According to a dispatch from Texarkana reprinted in The Abbeville Press and Banner, a mob of about seventy-five men broke into the jail on a Sunday night in September 1885, piled wood around his iron cell, soaked it with coal oil and set it on fire, and the dispatch says Sylvester was burned in the cell. The dispatch says the sheriff refused to hand over the keys and drew his pistol, and that the mob left without them.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A Texarkana dispatch reprinted in The Abbeville Press And Banner says a mob of about seventy-five men set fire to Sylvester Polk's iron cell in the Pike County jail, and the sheriff refused to surrender the keys.
Reported by: Dispatch from Texarkana reprinted in The Abbeville Press And Banner (reporters).