West Hawkins
West Hawkins, a Black man, was held in the Marshall jail in Marshall, Missouri, in September 1870. According to the Marshall Republican, as reprinted in the Chicago Tribune, a crowd gathered at the jail and demanded the keys. The sheriff and deputies first refused, then handed over the keys after the mob broke open the doors with sledgehammers. The mob took him into the woods, brought him back toward town and hanged him from a tree near a stable, and the coroner took his body down the next morning.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. The Marshall Republican, as reprinted in the Chicago Tribune, reports that a mob took Hawkins from the Marshall jail and hanged him from a tree.
Reported by: Marshall Republican (as reprinted in the Chicago Tribune) (reporters).