Deaths in Custody
Died in jail or a lockup

One of 7 people whose names were not reported

died March 9, 1892 · Shelby County, Tennessee

A Black man was one of three men taken from the Memphis jail by a mob of about seventy-five people in the early hours of March 9, 1892. According to a newspaper report, the mob got in by posing as officers bringing in a prisoner and bound the night watchman before taking the men to an open field near the river. There they were shot.

Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A Memphis dispatch reported in the Asheville Daily Citizen says a mob of about 75 people took him from the Memphis jail and shot him.

Reported by: Memphis Daily newspaper report (Asheville Daily Citizen, citing Memphis dispatch) (reporters).

News report