Thomas Byers
Thomas Byers was one of ten Black people held in the Union jail in Union, South Carolina. According to a telegram from Sheriff Dunn of Union, published in The Charleston Daily News, a mounted party of about five hundred men took the prisoners from the jail during the night of February 12, 1871. Thomas Byers was among six of them shot at a hanging ground about a mile and a half from town. No one has been identified as a member of the party.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. Sheriff Dunn, as reported in a telegram to The Charleston Daily News, said a mounted party of about five hundred men took Thomas Byers from the Union jail and shot him.
Reported by: Sheriff Dunn of Union (the agency that held them); The Charleston Daily News (reporters).