In many lynchings, of both blacks and whites, the illegality of the act is
beyond question because mobs broke into jails or other places of
incarceration to seize people who were in the custody of the legal system.
The mobs sometimes feared that defendants would be acquitted because the
evidence in their favor was strong (I wrote about one such lynching in
Stokes County, NC, in "The Hairstons") or the mob thought a sentence too
light. I believe that Leo Frank was pulled off a train on his way to serve
his prison sentence, and given the death penalty by rope.  

Henry Wiencek