William Cornish
William Cornish was a farmer near Springfield, Washington County, Kentucky, according to the Rock Island Daily Argus, and he was being held in the Springfield jail in January 1887. The Argus reported that about thirty-five masked men came to the jail on a Saturday night, that the jailer refused to surrender the keys, and that the men broke the doors open with blacksmiths' tools before taking him; another account puts the number at about seventy-eight. That account says the men took him to a farm about two miles north of town and hanged him from a tree, and the Argus said the sheriff cut his body down the next morning and held it for his family. The Argus also reported that Cornish recognized one of the men, called him by name, and said he hated to die this way. Accounts differ on the date of death, giving January 29 or January 30.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took him from the Springfield, Kentucky jail and hanged him from a tree about two miles outside town, after the jailer refused to surrender the keys and the mob broke down the doors with blacksmiths' tools.
Reported by: news reports.