Will Holt
Bill Holt was one of three Black men held in the Lee County jail at Leesburg, Georgia. According to a dispatch from Albany printed in The Times, a mob took him from the jail on the night of February 11, 1899, and hanged him from trees on the edge of town. The Times said the sheriff, who had no force to resist, admitted the mob into the jail, and that a state militia company sent to protect it arrived too late. The Portland Daily Press, reporting on February 13, said the mob broke into the jail, took three Black men to a tree and shot them, and that the sheriff first resisted before releasing the men once revolvers were pointed at him.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed; neglect alleged). An Albany, Ga. dispatch in The Times says a mob took Bill Holt from the Lee County jail and hanged him, and the sheriff admitted the mob into the jail while the state militia sent to protect it arrived too late; a second account says three men taken from the jail were tied to a tree and shot.
Reported by: Albany, Ga. dispatch in The Times (reporters); a second newspaper account of the Leesburg, Ga. lynching (reporters).