Ward
Gowan Ward was held in the custody of the sheriff and his deputy near Louisburg, North Carolina, in August 1935. One report says the sheriff and his deputy turned him over to a mob, while another says the mob took him from the sheriff and two deputies as they were moving him to another county for safekeeping, and that it killed him. The governor's office said it learned of the lynching from the Associated Press rather than from local officers, and that the Highway Patrol and National Guard arrived too late to prevent it. Accounts dispute how the officers acted during the attack, including whether one officer tried to shoot him and whether the license numbers of the mob's cars were recorded. One report says names of some mob members have been given to authorities and that the killing is expected to be thoroughly investigated.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed). The governor's office says a mob took Ward from the sheriff and deputies, and accounts in the paper dispute how the officers acted during the attack, including whether one officer tried to shoot him.
Reported by: the newspaper article on the Louisburg lynching (reporters); the governor's office, in its published statement; Franklin County newspaper accounts (reporters).