William Murphy

According to The Comet, William Murphy left a wife and several children at Junction City, Kentucky. On Saturday night, March 21, 1896, he was held in the Scott County jail at Huntsville, Tennessee, when about 25 to 30 armed men came to the building. A Chattanooga dispatch reported that the men got in by claiming to be a deputy bringing in a prisoner, and that Jailer Ellis and his daughter gave up the keys under threat of guns. The mob took Murphy from his cell and hanged him from a locust tree in the public square, about 80 to 100 feet from the jail, and reports say it posted a notice warning against cutting the body down before morning. The reports do not agree on how the men got in, no lynchers are named, and The Comet reported nine men under arrest in Scott County.

Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody

Sources (7)

• The Record-Union, March 23, 1896, page 1 The Record-Union, March 23, 1896
• The San Francisco Call, March 23, 1896, page 2 The San Francisco Call, March 23, 1896
• Hopkinsville Kentuckian, March 24, 1896, page 5 Hopkinsville Kentuckian, March 24, 1896
• The Comet, March 26, 1896, page 1 The Comet, March 26, 1896
• The Butler Weekly Times, March 26, 1896, page 7 The Butler Weekly Times, March 26, 1896
• The Cape Girardeau Democrat, March 28, 1896, page 2 The Cape Girardeau Democrat, March 28, 1896
• The Comet, April 2, 1896, page 1 The Comet, April 2, 1896