Died in jail or a lockup
Willis Griffey
Willis Griffey was held in the jail at Princeton, Kentucky. According to a newspaper dispatch, a mob of 100 or more men came to the jail on the night of October 14, 1894, and demanded the keys. The jailer refused at first, and the mob searched the house until they found them. The mob took Griffey from his cell, put him in a covered hack, and hanged him from a beech tree about three miles from town, and the paper reports that his body was then mutilated and shot.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody