On July 25, 1903 in Danville, Illinois John Metcalf, a black man, allegedly shot and killed Henry Gatterman, a white man, outside of a saloon after the two men got into a scuffle. Metcalf was quickly taken into custody by the law enforcement and transported to City Hall where there were holding cells. Word quickly spread around town and soon after a mob was formed. The mob, estimated at a couple thousand, marched to city hall and with a rail used as a battering ram they were able to demolish the door and force their way in. The law enforcement stationed at City Hall were made up of only three men, Sheriff Hardy Whitlock and his two deputies. As the mob infiltrated the demolished door, the Sheriff and his deputies walked out of the City Hall after failed attempts to prevent the mob’s entry. At this point Metcalf was found in his cell and extracted by the mob, he was beaten furiously, and eventually his body was dragged (and continuously beaten) by the mob to the location, several blocks away, where the shooting had taken place earlier that evening. When the mob reached the saloon a rope was tossed over a telephone pole and Metcalf's body was hanged, even though he was already dead. Metcalf’s lifeless body received several shots fired into it from the massive crowd of people, and it was reported that the rope was severed due to a bullet and Metcalf's body fell to the ground. The mob continued to drag Metcalf’s body to the county jail where his body was lit on fire.
The mob still did not disperse and turned their attention to the county jail in an attempt to extract another black man from his cell. On July 24, 1903 a black man named James Wilson had allegedly assaulted a white women in Alvin, Illinois, which is a few miles north of Danville. When Wilson was arrested he was brought to Danville and was being held at the county jail. The mob approached the county jail just as they had approached City Hall and with the same intentions. But this attempt by the mob was halted when Sheriff Hardy Whitlock, after several warnings, fired into the crowd. Several members of the mob were wounded, but the shots were affective and the crowd dispersed.
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