Died in custody
Name not reported
Five Black men who were held in the custody of the sheriff were, according to Mr. Forney, a lawyer from northeastern Alabama, taken from that custody by disguised men and killed. His testimony to a congressional committee investigating the Ku Klux Klan was reported in the New National Era in July 1871. The article gives no names, date, or county for the men, and no other source in the text confirms the account.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A lawyer, Mr. Forney, testified to a congressional committee that disguised men took five Black men from the sheriff's custody and killed them.
Reported by: Mr. Forney, a lawyer testifying to the congressional committee (family or their lawyers).