When Justice Failed Rock County (Quick Read)
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- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Inim 1855, in the fledgling settlement of Janesville, justice walked a dangerous line between law and fury.
David Mayberry, a convict freshly freed from an Illinois prison, found himself traveling through southern Wisconsin. Fatefully, he boarded a buggy driven by Andrew Alger, a lumberman carrying a hefty payroll—possibly to pay workers cutting timber near Janesville. A hatchet found its way to Mayberry during this journey. Soon after, Alger was discovered murdered.
Mayberry was arrested on the spot and swiftly brought to trial. The verdict was as quick as the crime: guilty. The sentence was ruthless—a lifetime behind bars under brutal conditions. But justice in the eyes of the people could not be satisfied with court orders.
A mob overpowered the jail escort, dragged Mayberry to a nearby tree, and hanged him in a gruesome reenactment of frontier retribution. The rope’s knot was initially placed under his chin—Mayberry may have still been breathing. The mob adjusted its brutality, tightened the loop, and subdued the lingering life.
When the sheriff came for the hanging tree the next day, it wasn’t to mourn—it was to dismantle the symbol of mob vengeance. Citizens, it seemed, wanted keepsakes.
Picture this: a town both bound by law and blinded by anger, torn between the abolition of capital punishment and the perceived need for immediate justice. Wisconsin had abolished the death penalty just two years earlier, yet the grief and rage of Mayberry’s crime overwhelmed that progress.
Quick Facts & Context
Detail | Description |
Victim | David F. Mayberry (convict, previously incarcerated in Illinois) |
Crime | Murder of lumberman Andrew Alger (with alleged payroll) |
Trial Outcome | Convicted, sentenced to life with harsh solitary confinement and hard labor |
Mob Action | Lynched by mob during transfer from courthouse to jail |
Notable Details | Rope knot placed under chin; tree used for lynching dismantled for safety |
Significance | Wisconsin had abolished the death penalty in 1853—yet mob violence prevailed |
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