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The Old County Jail
The Montgomery County Jail was located in Rockville on what is now Maryland Ave., approximately where the County Council building stands today. Here seen c. 1935 just before its demolition.
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Vigilante mobs kidnapped both Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey and Mr. Sidney Randolph from the jail, and murdered them by lynching.
Mr. John Diggs-Dorsey, accused of assaulting Mrs. Linnie Tschiffely, was in the jail in Rockville. On July 27, 1880, at 4 a.m., fifty men appeared and carried out an attack on the facility with the plan to lynch Mr. Diggs-Dorsey.
Mr. Sidney Randolph, accused of the murder of Sadie Buxton and awaiting indictment, was in his jail cell the morning of July 4, 1896. After forcing the jailer to relinquish the keys, a group of masked men dragged Mr. Randolph from his cell and lynched him.
Photo credits: Building: Montgomery History. Newspaper clipping: Memphis (TN) Public Ledger, July 27, 1880. Randolph: Washington (DC) Evening Times, July, 4, 1896.
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