Willie Kirkland
Willie Kirkland, 20, was held in the Thomasville jail in Georgia, in the custody of Sheriff Gordon K. Davis. On September 25, 1930, as the sheriff and several deputies were trying to move him to a nearby town for safekeeping, a crowd of 50 to 75 men seized him. The men hanged him from a tree in Magnolia Gardens, then dragged his body behind a truck through the city and left it on the courthouse lawn.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched. A crowd of 50 to 75 men seized Willie Kirkland from the custody of Sheriff Gordon K. Davis and his deputies, who were moving him for safekeeping, and hanged him from a tree.
Reported by: Sheriff Gordon K. Davis and his deputies (the agency that held him). The only account of how this person died comes from the agency that held him.