Died in jail or a lockup
Name not reported
He was a Black schoolteacher in Belleville, Illinois, who was being held in the jail there when a mob took him and killed him, according to a Christian Advocate account reprinted in The Progress-Advertiser in June 1903. The account says a first mob failed to reach him, and a second group broke in, beat him, and hanged him from a telegraph pole. The Christian Advocate, as reprinted, called the killing an unpardonable crime.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. The Christian Advocate reported that a mob struck him on the head with a sledge hammer, strung him up to a telegraph pole and burned him.
Reported by: Christian Advocate.