William M. Crockett
William M. Crockett was held in the Wythe County jail in Wytheville, Virginia, when a mob came for him shortly after one in the morning on April 11, 1883. Accounts say the men claimed they were bringing in another prisoner, and when the guard opened the door they rushed in and took him from his cell. The Daily Dispatch reported that the men forced the cell key from the jailer's wife, while another account says the jailer himself was overpowered, and the accounts differ on whether twenty to forty men or about one hundred took part. The men hanged him from a mill beam outside the jail and then shot him, and a coroner's jury attributed his death to strangulation and gunshot wounds at the hands of unknown parties.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A mob took William Crockett from the Wythe County jail cell, hanged him from a mill beam and shot him, and a coroner's jury blamed strangulation and gunshot wounds at the hands of unknown parties.
Reported by: coroner's jury (medical examiner or coroner); The Daily Dispatch (reporters).