Deaths in Custody
Died in jail or a lockup

William Thacker

died July 15, 1903 · Fleming County Jail, Fleming County, Kentucky

William Thacker was a husband and father; his wife and five children, who were very poor, later moved to Ohio. In July 1903 he was held in the Fleming County jail at Flemingsburg, Kentucky, when a mob of fifteen to twenty men came for him shortly after midnight on July 14 or 15. Newspaper accounts say the men overpowered the jailer, took his keys, removed Thacker from his cell and hanged him from a tree about 300 yards from the jail, and one report says the jailer first refused to surrender the keys. Thacker's widow, Mary, and their children later sued in federal court at Covington, naming the jailer and twenty-six Fleming County citizens, and the lawsuit says he was beaten to death with a crowbar, sledge hammer, gun barrel and other weapons, a account that differs from the newspaper reports.

Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed). A newspaper dispatch says a mob took William Thacker from the Flemingsburg jail and hanged him after the jailer was overpowered, while a federal lawsuit by his widow and children alleges the defendants beat him to death with a crowbar, sledge hammer, gun barrel and other weapons.

Reported by: Maysville dispatch (newspaper report) (reporters); Robert Thacker and others, plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit (family or their lawyers); Mary M. Thacker's $50,000 suit in the United States Court at Covington (family or their lawyers); The Columbus Commercial (reporters).

Lawsuit: His widow and children sued twenty-six Fleming County citizens, including the jailer, in federal court at Covington, seeking $50,000, and the outcome is not reported.

News reports (11)

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Questions, a correction, or a death I’ve missed? Email me at orion.j.taylor@gmail.com.