Died in jail or a lockup
Name not reported
A man who worked on a steamboat was held in the St. Louis jail in April 1836. According to a correspondent's report published in a newspaper, a crowd of citizens demanded the jailer's keys, and the jailer resisted until he judged resistance useless, then handed the man over. The crowd took him out, chained him to a tree near the courthouse, piled dry rails beneath him and set them alight, and he died after about fifteen minutes.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A crowd took him from the St. Louis jail after the jailer gave up his keys, chained him to a tree and burned him, according to a correspondent's newspaper report.
Reported by: a correspondent's report in a newspaper (reporters).