Died in jail or a lockup
Wade Thomas
Wade Thomas, a Black man, was being held in the Jonesboro jail in Arkansas on December 26, 1920. Newspaper accounts say the jailer turned over the keys to a mob of several hundred people after urging that the law be allowed to take its course. The mob took Thomas from his cell, paraded him through the business streets, hanged him from a telegraph pole near Main and Monroe streets, and then shot his body. Two judges urged the mob to let the law take its course, but the mob told them to leave.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took Wade Thomas from the Jonesboro jail after the jailer turned over the keys, and hanged him from a telegraph pole.
Reported by: news reports.