Died in custody
Thomas Simmons
Thomas Simmons, a twenty-year-old man, was held in the custody of a constable when a masked party took him on the night of Wednesday, July 13, 1870, and hanged him. The New Orleans Republican reported that Sheriff Wright left for the scene the next morning with a posse to pursue those responsible. The account gives no further detail of how the men came to take him or what the constable did to stop them.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched
Reported by: Sheriff Wright's posse (pursuing the lynchers) (the agency that held him). The only account of how this person died comes from the agency that held him.