| Location: | Murfreesboro Road, Franklin, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Date: | April 29, 1891 |
| Type: | Lynching |
Jim Taylor was an African-American man who was lynched on April 30, 1891 in Franklin, Tennessee.
Jim Taylor was an African American man who lived and worked as a sharecropper on a farm owned by James Hodge, two miles from Franklin.[1] He was described as "a very large negro", who was "feared by his own race and regarded as desperate" by The Daily American,[1] and as "a dangerous character" by The Leaf-Chronicle.[2]
On April 29, 1891, a circus troupe with many African Americans was in Franklin.[1] Taylor went to Franklin and reportedly shot a circus artist named Morrellton.[2] A policeman named Charles Cook tried to arrest him, and Taylor reportedly shot him in the neck.[1] [2] Taylor was arrested.[1] He reportedly carried two guns and a knife.[1] He was taken to the Williamson County Jail in Franklin.[1]
At 10p.m., a mob entered the jail and dragged him out of his cell.[1] [2] They took him to the bridge on Murfreesboro Road (near modern-day Pinkerton Park), where they hanged him and riddled his body with bullets.[1] [2] [3] The mob, who were on horseback, left shortly after,[2] and Taylor's body was found the next morning.[1]
The lynchers were not identified.[1]