Died in jail or a lockup
Virgil Jones
Virgil Jones was a Black man held in the Russellville jail in Logan County, Kentucky, in August 1908. Browder, a man held separately, said the four men held there all worked on farms in the same area. Early on August 1, 1908, about fifty masked men forced their way into the jail, took Virgil and three other men from their cells, and hanged them from a tree on the Nashville Pike at the edge of town. One newspaper reported that the jailer was held at gunpoint and handed over the keys, while another said he was overpowered by a larger crowd and forced to surrender them.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched
Reported by: Russellville jail staff and Logan County records as summarized in 1908 newspaper accounts (reporters).
News reports (16)
- The Paducah Evening Sun, August 1, 1908, page 1
- The Montgomery Advertiser, August 2, 1908, page 1
- The Pensacola Journal, August 2, 1908, page 2
- The Pensacola Journal, August 2, 1908, page 1
- The Waxahachie Daily Light, August 3, 1908, page 1
- Daily Public Ledger, August 3, 1908, page 3
- Gainesville Daily Sun, August 4, 1908, page 1
- The Adair County News, August 5, 1908, page 4
- The Hartford Herald, August 5, 1908, page 1
- The Bee, August 6, 1908, page 3
- The Vanceburg Sun, August 6, 1908, page 6
- The Citizen, August 6, 1908, page 7
- The Aberdeen Weekly, August 7, 1908, page 1
- The Adair County News, August 12, 1908, page 2
- The Adair County News, August 12, 1908, page 7
- The Hickman Courier, August 13, 1908, page 8