Townsend Cook
Townsend Cook, a Black man, was held in the jail at Westminster, Maryland, in June 1885. The Clarke Courier reported that on the night of Monday, June 8, a party of armed men took him from the jail and hanged him. The Alexandria Gazette gave the date as June 1, the morning he was taken out, and said he was killed a short distance from Westminster. The two papers differ on the date of his death.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A newspaper account says an armed party took Townsend Cook from the Westminster jail and hanged him, and a second account says a mob lynched him near Westminster.
Reported by: 1885 newspaper account of the Westminster jail hanging (reporters); 1885 newspaper account of the lynching near Westminster (reporters).