Constable Wyatt Outlaw

Wyatt Outlaw

Constable Wyatt Outlaw was lynched by members of a KKK-like group known as the White Brotherhood in retaliation for a prior incident in which members of the group were fired upon during a midnight-ride of intimidation around Courthouse Square.

Constable Outlaw had previously been appointed as the constable of Graham to organize night patrols to prevent such rides. Although it is not known who fired at the masked riders, a rumor was started that Constable Outlaw had fired the shots.

On the night of February 26th, 1870, a group of approximately 60 masked men broke down Constable Outlaw's door and forcibly took him from his home. They hung him from a tree approximately 20 yards from the courthouse in what is now Sesquicentennial Park.

Several men were indicted for Constable Outlaw's murder but none of them were ever tried.

Constable Outlaw was an escaped slave who enlisted in the United States Colored Troops 2nd Cavalry during the Civil War. He was survived by his wife, two children, and mother.