Died in jail or a lockup
William W. Watts
William W. Watts was held at the Newport News station house in Virginia when a group of masked men took him from the building in the early morning of January 5, 1900. Newspaper accounts say the men forced the jailer, at pistol point or after overpowering him, to surrender the keys. A crowd of several hundred gathered at the edge of the city, where Watts was bound to a sapling and shot; one report says the rope brought for hanging was too short to use. The identity of the mob members was reported as unknown, and his father, a member of the Lynchburg police force, came for his body and was described as heart-broken.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched
Reported by: news reports.