Died in custody
Will Thompson
William Thompson, a Black man, was being taken from Birmingham to Mobile, Alabama, in the custody of Sheriff John F. Powers and a deputy. According to press accounts from October 1906, a masked mob of about 200 men stopped the party north of Mobile, overpowered the officers and hanged him from a tree, though the papers differ on the exact spot. The sheriff said he could not have resisted without military protection, and before leaving he had said he feared a mob would take the prisoners. A coroner's jury found that Thompson came to his death at the hands of parties unknown.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody