Died in jail or a lockup
William Hardy
William Hardy, a Black man, was held in the county jail at Troy, Tennessee, when a mob of masked men came for him on March 17, 1887. Newspaper accounts from the period say the men forced the jailer at gunpoint to unlock the cells, took Hardy from his cell, and hanged him from a tree about a mile and a half north of town. One account says the sheriff refused the mob's demand and the men broke down the outside door. Another says the jailer was compelled to give them access and the sheriff did not prevent it.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody