Biography
Robert Jones was a Black farm laborer in official custody before a lynching at Michigan City, Mississippi on August 13, 1934. The August 14 Ashland dispatch says deputies transporting him from Tupelo surrendered him to masked lynchers without resistance. The paper attributes the murders to white-landlord and police vengeance against militant farm laborers. Jones had earlier received a death sentence that the state Supreme Court reversed because a deputy had entered his home without a search warrant; this Jones-specific history is not assigned to Houey. Alleged confessions promoted after their deaths are attributed to the district attorney, not adopted as fact. Exact initial arrest and total custody duration are unprinted. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n196-aug-16-1934-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3