Lation Scott

Lation (Ligon) Scott (December 25, 1893 – December 2, 1917) was lynched after being suspected of raping a white woman in Dyer County, Tennessee. He was tortured, mutilated and burned alive by a mob on Sunday, December 2, 1917, in downtown Dyersburg.

Early life

Scott was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi on December 25, 1893. He was married and had a three-year-old child but lived apart from his wife. Scott registered for the World War I draft on June 5, 1917, and described his occupation as farming. He was described on the form as tall and slender.

Background In 1917, Scott was a farmworker who worked for a white farmer on a rented small landholding. The farmer had a 24-year-old wife and two small children. It was reported that Scott occasionally lived in the house with the farmer and his family. Some reports have said that Scott was "half-witted", and when signing his selective service application, he did not sign his name with a signature: on the form there is an X and the words "made his mark". Scott passed his physical examination and was likely to be called to service.