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Submitted: 9/12/20 • Approved: 9/14/20 • Last Updated: 9/17/20 • R156107-G0-S3
31 Jan 1858
5 Feb 1903
"Billy"
On February 5, 1903, Lane County Sheriff Withers was shot to death by Elliott Lyons as Withers and his deputies were tempting to arrest him at his parents' home in Walton. Lyons was an embezzler, a Jackson County horse thief and an escaped prisoner. He managed to get away and posses were immediately formed to "run the desperado to earth." Four days later, Lyons was captured as he tried to board a southbound freight train in Creswell.
Eugene residents were enraged when they heard of Withers' shooting, and there was talk of lynching Lyons. According to the Daily Eugene Guard, Withers was "the most popular sheriff Lane County ever had." He as respected by law officers all over the West coast as a brave and fearless manhunter. One thousand people attended his funeral service.
Lyons was brought to trial, and the jury found him guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree. He was sentenced to "hang by the neck until dead" in the jail courtyard witnessed by at least 12 bona fide citizens. On April 17, the sentenced was carried out. It was Lane County's second hanging.
Contributed on 9/12/20 by tomtodd
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Record #: 156107